Unless a grain of wheat falls
to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
John 12:24
None of us has or will be
spared the loss of loved ones, of friends or of colleagues. For many who live
with the memory of war, of genocide, of natural disasters, raging disease,
there is a struggle to make sense, to make meaning not only of life, but death
itself.
We are all quite familiar with
the manner in which nature renews itself. A process of dying and rising, a
language of growth that is both secular and religious, singular and communal,
personal and social. The pattern is reproduced in every sphere of our lives.
Death gives way to life. Little wonder the Christian sees the transition from
death to life as following a natural order.
In John we see Jesus predicting
his glorification – and acknowledging that in order for this to happen he must
first die.
We can talk about metaphor,
analogy, simile, allegory – yet each of these cannot describe the reality about
which Jesus was speaking. And further, that we who believe are invited into
this reality, again by dying to self, are also called to life. In the first
instance that life is like a dying to our past, and awakening to a new way of
living; in the second, it is the physical extinguishment of life that leads
irrevocably and irretrievably into a new state of being – eternal life, after
life, heaven.
The language we need to express
this transformation has been lost to so many of us, we avoid ‘death’, ‘dying’,
‘dead’ – we humans pass away, pass over or just pass and are subsequently no
longer with us, deceased. For many death is a permanent state of nothingness,
assuaged by ‘never forgetting’ or being ‘in our hearts forever’. Our faith, our
knowledge, means nothing if that is where our understanding ends.
As Lent creeps towards Easter,
we are firmly reminded, Whoever loves his
life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for
eternal life (John 12:25).
Peter Douglas
HEAD OF SCHOOL SERVICES, NORTH
PETER'S WHEREABOUTS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS:
MEETINGS COMING UP:
Wise Choices: A Spiritual Guide to Making Life's Decisions (an excerpt)
Spiritual writer and retreat leader Margaret Silf
offers sagacious advice on ways to make wise decisions in everyday life. Here
is an excerpt on teachers.
NOTICING ANY OVERREACTIONS
"Overreactions are another very sound guide
to what is
really going on in your heart.
"Did you go over the top about anything
during the day?
What triggered the reaction?
How do you feel about it in hindsight?
"An overreaction like this
is like the bubbles from a submerged shark.
It is a telltale sign that something bigger is
lurking
under the surface of what you see.
"If you notice bubbles like this coming up
in your day,
it may be very important to stop at that point
and ask yourself — without judgment! —
where are these bubbles really coming from?
"If you lost your temper with a colleague,
or grumbled at the neighbor's children,
or you came close to road rage with another
driver,
where was this negative energy coming from?
"Very often you will find that it isn't all
it seems to be.
"The driver who enrages you may actually be
activating
deeper reasons for your anger.
"The girl who delays you in the supermarket,
by chatting needlessly to the person in front of
you,
may actually be doing you a favor.
She may be the signal that warns you
that the pressures in your life are running
dangerously high."
THE GIFT OF LIFE'S IRRITATIONS
"Life is full of minor and major
irritations.
The irritant can be a pain — but the pain itself
can be
the symptom of something more seriously wrong.
"Pain is in some ways a blessing.
It is the body's early warning system that
something is wrong, and needs attention,
before it becomes a threat to health and life.
"The irritants that get under our skin,
and make us overreact,
can be blessings too.
They can be our inner early warning system
that something needs attention,
before it threatens our inner well-being,
our relationships,
or even our integrity.
"The grit in the oyster
is the irritant that becomes the pearl.
"Don't disregard the irritants of your daily
life.
They may have the makings of precious pearls of
wisdom.”
Postscript
by Seamus Heaney
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightening of flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on
white,
Their fully-grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you'll park or capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things
pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
FROM ST BRIGID'S:
FROM ST JOSEPH'S - ROSEBERY:
FROM ST BRENDAN SHAW COLLEGE:
FROM SACRED HEART - ULVERSTONE:
FROM OUR LADY OF MERCY:
FROM STELLA MARIS:
FROM STAR OF THE SEA:
FROM ST PATRICK'S - LATROBE:
FROM ST JOSEPH'S - QUEENSTOWN:
FROM OUR LADY OF LOURDES:
FROM ST BRENDAN SHAW COLLEGE:
FROM ST PATRICK'S COLLEGE - LAUNCESTON:
FROM ST PETER CHANEL:
FROM ST FINN BARR'S:
FROM ST THOMAS MORE'S:
FROM MARIST REGIONAL COLLEGE:
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