Tenison Woods and MacKillop Centre News: My yoke is easy and my burden light

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

Matthew 11:25 - 30

I have lived a fortunate life. I have never experienced serious illness, nor have I been involved in a serious motor vehicle incident. I have enough sick leave to take a year off if necessary.

I have never suffered from depression, though I've certainly had bad days. I've had my share of grief, of separation from family and friends, the disappointment of not getting the job I was after, of not performing to my own expectations, of struggling with my children in their search for identity and purpose, of letting others down. A listening ear heals. A friend’s concern and compassion heals. Time heals.

My confidence in God’s presence in my life has never failed, through all the ups and the downs. There has been no crisis of faith, just the desire to know him more and more, though this is far from everyone’s experience.

For whatever our physical, mental or spiritual ailments might be, there are means by which healing and recovery can occur. We know there are some in our community who are deeply burdened by their marriages, their financial situation, their health, their workplaces. These ailments are real, not imagined and often interact, sometimes making it difficult to differentiate causes. The overwhelming feeling that nothing makes sense is confusing. It makes us angry.

Matthew records Jesus’ invitation (11:29-30): ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

This open invitation to you and me is offered graciously, unreservedly and freely. You must still seek appropriate medical intervention of course, but making sense of your pain, of your experience is where your spiritual journey of healing with Jesus, in prayer, reflection will offer some relief. Allowing yourself to begin that journey is the first step, give yourself permission to acknowledge your confusion and anxiety, find some place that will respect the encounter with Jesus in his word and action. And then be in his presence.

For those who have gone before us, both saints and non-so-saintly, the overwhelming and generous love of our God will draw us to him and bring us home.

Peter

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REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

by Kevin Treston

Communications

Communications are two-way interchanges of messages, sending and receiving information. Communications may be at the interpersonal level or at the systems level. Good communications provide a link between people to enhance relationships. Poor communications erect barriers and arouse resentment.

What aspects of good interpersonal communications?

· Be attentive to the non-verbals of communications e.g. physical environment, eye contact, body movements.

· Identify blocks to communications e.g. status block, emotional responses, hidden agenda, preoccupation, projection.

· Listen in a non-judgemental way.

· Seek clarification if the meaning is not clear, don’t have a guess at what was meant.

· Use “I” statements so that the hearers understand that you are owning the message.

· Be authentic in what we say.

· Accept that a diversity of personality types (introverts, extroverts, sensates, intuitives) will send and receive messages in very different ways.

· Listen at the feeling level. The real message is often in the feelings expressed.

· Listening is an active process, seek first to understand before being understood.

· Be assertive but not aggressive in expressing feelings and points of view.

Good communications within systems (school, parish, hospital) facilitate healthy relationships and expeditite the achievement of the goals of the agency. You may find the questions below helpful in evaluating the efficiency of communications in your parish, school or Christian agency:

· How effective is the basic communications circuit (staff meetings, parish or school newsletter, PA system, staff notice boards, network links with various groups)?

· Are the roles of the group members clarified among themselves and for the wider community?

· Have role expectations been checked out?

· Have boundaries been drawn around the scope of the roles?

· Do staff and group meetings really facilitate and honest exchange of ideas?

· Are leaders accessible or do staff have to wait for extended periods before they can talk with their administrators?

· Do the people of the parish or school know how to maximize the use of the communication system?

· Are grievance procedures well established and known to all?

· Is there a comprehensive induction into the agency?

· Are people sufficiently motivated to invest energy into making communications happen?

· Is information technology utilized to help communications?

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Peter's whereabouts for the next 2 weeks

Meetings coming up

Please forward any agenda items for meetings (with some indication of time required and context) to Carole at carole.goodwin@catholic.tas.edu.au or Tracie at tracie.clyne@catholic.tas.edu.au