Advent Awakening
As we move into the Year of Mark with the dawn of the First Sunday of Advent upon us we are challenged in the short gospel to really go against the grain! I don't know about you, but with dark nights that begin ever earlier and dark mornings that last ever longer, I really want to spend more time sleeping and dosing my way towards the shortest day. But the gospel and the season we are about to enter are very definitely about ‘awakening' and ‘staying awake'. It's perhaps a good time to encourage those we are accompanying to take stock of their journey of awakening to God and God's call in their lives and perhaps to discern their readiness to celebrate the Rite of Welcome or the Rite of Acceptance. At the same time it's worth asking whether the parish community is ready too and to consider the best ways of celebrating so that candidates and catechumens become the focus for all to experience the power these rites can have when celebrated well.
I used to only consider a combined rite celebration when dealing with both baptised and un-baptised enquirers and worked hard to differentiate the different elements of both rites so that all involved could appreciate what was happening. But it often failed to impact on the parishioners in the pews who seemed a bit confused and nonplussed and now I'm not so sure that combining these two rites is the best way forward. If we're working hard to make explicit the importance of the whole parish community in our enquirers' journeys, then these two key moments along the way are wonderful opportunities to move that forward. Rather than using a combined rite at one Sunday Mass, if you have both baptised and un-baptised enquirers ready to make that first witness within the parish community then why not celebrate ‘Welcome' during one Sunday Mass and ‘Acceptance' at another Sunday Mass a couple of weeks later, and maybe at a different time (Saturday evening Vigil perhaps). This will enable the parish community to see clearly that there are differences but more importantly, to have the opportunity of welcoming on a more personal and individual level. It will also encourage a more discerning spirit within the RCIA group as it decides who might be ready for these end of first stage rites. Finally, it can help to prevent that programmed sense of "We'll celebrate Welcome and Acceptance' next week because it's Advent and that's when we always do it!"
This First Sunday's readings also provide us with a rich array of images of the God who calls us and working with these would provide a lovely reflective session as part of the discernment process. How and where in our awakening to God might we have encountered God as:
Father, Redeemer, Ancient One, Guide, Melter of Mountains, the Presence, God as Face Hider, Creator, Potter, Shepherd, Planter and Protector of vines, Life Giver?
Not to mention 'the unexpected owner of the house who looks for a wide awake welcome'!
A useful resource
The Miracle Maker is an animated film produced for the Jubilee Year 2000 which tells the story of Jesus. It generally uses the gospel of Luke as the source for its narrative – but it hangs loosely to the source, and treats it somewhat creatively. This is most noticeable in its development of the character of Tamar, the daughter of Jairus. It's easily available from most DVD stores, or of course from Amazon. or Play.
It was well-received by faith communities: A pretty typical review follows:
In The Miracle Maker, the film’s makers have a small miracle of their own: a simple, modest retelling of the gospel story of the ministry and passion of Christ that does little more than present the bare events of the gospel narratives, without adornment or invention, without idiosyncratic “explanations” or editorial spin, without elaborations for the sake of amusement or excitement.
It’s so straightforward, it’s practically revolutionary. Adapting a story for the screen substantially as it was written is a lost art nowadays. It’s easy to see why, in a way; storytellers are just naturally attracted to projects to which they feel they have some creative contribution to make; some special angle or insight to offer.
http://artsandfaith.com/t100/2005/entry.php?film=52
You might wonder about the claim that there is little adornment or invention – remember Tamar – but she operates more as a narrative device to help the viewer engage with the story of Jesus than a distraction or dumbing down.
The Miracle Worker is a rather beautiful creation – most of the narrative shown through stop-go animation; but others through painted cell work. And it is an engaging presentation – with much of the credit for this going to the somewhat stellar cast, led by Ralph Fiennes as Jesus.
We’ve been using it in our parish over the past weeks – a ten minute section as a time, as a way of familiarising the group with the outline of the story of Jesus, and as a ‘safe’ way of giving them matter for discussion reflection. Last year we had a very quiet group who rather resisted discussion. It’s a different group this year but there’s much discussion and I think the film is to credit for that.<
I’d recommend the film as a most useful aid for first evangelisation, for the pre-catechumenal time. And I am happy to share below the discussion sheets we used to to give you an indication of the sort of conversation starters we’ve used.
Is This It?
God our Father,
From living stones, your chosen people,
You have built an eternal temple to your glory.
Increase the spiritual gifts you have given to your Church,
So that your faithful people may continue to grow
Into the new and eternal Jerusalem.
You are God's building. By the grace God gave me, I succeeded as an architect and laid the foundations, on which someone else is doing the building. Everyone doing the building must work carefully. For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ.
Didn't you realise that you were God's temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.
(1 Cor 3:9-11,16-17)
As I looked at the readings for this week, I was led in a variety of directions. Rather than trying to make them fit neatly together, I offer a little mosaic of random thoughts. Hopefully something will grab you!
First image:
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been leading a course called Know Your Faith in one of our deaneries. On the way to the parish venue, I pass through a former mining village with a rather dark, bleak looking church building. A notice board outside the building has several peeling signs outside asking “Is this it?” 
I don’t know if it refers to the church, the village or life in general. But it is a striking image. Every week when I pass, I wonder what the people who pass make of the sign and also what it says about the Christian community that gathers there. Is it a question people ask on arrival or exit?
A course participant a few years back asked those gathered “If our parish closed down tomorrow and nobody went there again, would anybody else notice? Would they miss us? Would it make a difference?”
The images in the readings this week also offer very striking images of the Church. Ezekiel talks to us about the water flowing from the sanctuary, the water which brings life wherever it flows. Bearing new fruit that never withers and never fails. Is that an image which captures the spirit of our Catholic community in whichever parish we find ourselves? Do we bring life to all we meet and all we touch?
If you think about your parish community, which image would capture its spirit?
What image of Church runs through the catechesis you offer? Is it true to life?
Would anyone outside the community notice if nobody gathered there again?
Second image
The second reading is again quite striking – certainly for our ministry of catechesis. We are building on foundations already laid. It is a good reminder that when we meet people, they are already part of God’s building and we aren’t starting from scratch. Something brought them here. Just as Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the foundation, the GDC reminds us that the purpose of catechesis is communion and intimacy with Christ. Our ministry is to nurture that communion and intimacy. But we do need to proceed carefully – our role is not to tell people who Christ is but to create the space and opportunity for people to encounter Christ. And that includes us. The problem is, when it comes to Jesus the Christ, we all have our own experience, our own relationship. We need to be careful that we don’t impose or overlay our experience of Christ on someone else. Communion and intimacy grow more through prayer, liturgical experience, and encountering Christ in scripture. Creating these opportunities is skilful, it demands that we must be vulnerable and intimate with each other if we are to be intimate with Christ. We also have to be prepared to encounter Christ anew and for our intimacy with Christ to deepen and be changed. Talking about Christ or what the catechism says is much easier.
Professor David F Ford n his book Self and Salvation talks about the ‘vague face of Christ’. I offer the quotation below. Its hard reading, but well worth the effort
“The most obvious problem regarding the face of Jesus is its apparent vagueness. Nobody can see this face. We do not even have an artistic or photographic evidence of it. So people might imagine any sort of face and project whatever they like onto it.
But the fact that we don know what Jesus looks like might be helpful to us:
“…the undetermination of (Jesus) face is intrinsically connected to both the mystery of God and relationship to every other face. It is the openness of the hospitable face, the good undetermination of not being self-contained. This face is alive with the life and glory of God, so its openness has all the capacity for innovation and surprise which belong to God. It is so oriented to others that knowing and loving this face means being called to know and love them. Its self-effacement constantly urges those who look to it that they should route their seeking the face of Christ through other people. This is the long detour of recognising Christ in others, not one of whom is irrelevant to knowing and loving him…”
(Adapted from David F Ford, Self and Salvation, CUP 1999:172-3).
The Ongoing Challenge of Being Church
During the early part of this year we had talked increasingly about our hopes for future developments in implementing the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. We discussed wanting to begin year-long invitation opportunities for people who may wish to know more about living a Catholic Christian life.
Our other main area of concern was how to be much more faithful to including, or should it be allowing, the whole parish to take its due role in evangelisation and catechesis. That is, to “be always fully prepared in the pursuit of its apostolic vocation to give help to those who are searching for Christ”. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, n9. How do catechists, in the task of assisting an initiation process, avoid at best being the ‘yeast’ consciously working on behalf of the parish and at worst an exclusive group? We need to unveil more the role of parishioners as threshold companions.
If something like monthly opportunities to meet with, question and find welcome from catholics were to happen we had to involve all parishioners. Both objectives went hand in hand. We knew that perceptions and experience of RCIA could develop more with this process.
To begin with the discussion needed to be opened up for fresh dialogue…to start a ripple effect at least. Hence, parishioners representing some ministries, activities and interests, as well as different age groups were personally invited to come together to explore ways in which we could become an even more welcoming parish.
The Spirit of God doesn’t hang around waiting for our ideas to come to fruition, of course. We had thought that our hopes for regular welcome sessions may be our fresh way to being open to inquirers. The week before the exploratory meeting inquirers came seeking! The ventures happily became parallel sooner than anticipated.
Thankfully, when the invited group met they did not want to hear and then just rubber stamp the ideas proposed but responded to the questions raised and added their own. What happened was an appraisal of how welcome is experienced by all and how it could be. We prayed together, reflected and explored suggestions about who the people are whom we want to welcome. The list included: ourselves, new parishioners, the curious, those who may wish to re-discover a once familiar belonging along with those who have a wish to get to know the Lord and us better and may wish to begin a process towards initiation.
What has happened so far is that the discussion continues among parishioners as the group talk with others. The newsletter was used to alert all to the meeting beforehand and to give a brief account of the ongoing nature of the enterprise. One of the most heartening outcomes was a date in diaries to meet again as a steering group – one that is open and inclusive and listens. A decision that will be worked on initially is to use Christmas, with its customary visitors and ‘returnees’, as a first step in offering invitations to ‘come and see’. It is intended to offer a couple of dates for informal gatherings to be planned for soon after Christmas. Similar action was envisaged for Easter and September. We can work more then with suggestions of how this is to be done and explore materials like those available from CASE (Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation).
Other questions raised were around how welcome is practiced weekly and how to utilise better our restricted entrance space. Work had begun some time ago on compiling information about the parish in the form of a parish booklet and action was decided on bringing that to fruition.
What we learned was a lesson in how listening and dialogue change and open up ideas – perhaps this is an affirmation of the principle that where even ‘two or three gather together…’ [After apologies, we were 12 or 13!]. We also learned something of the need to change pace in order to include the values and perspectives of others. One step at a time…and need for patience while ‘God gives the growth’!
The hope for yearlong group opportunities to welcome potential inquirers had started with two of us. It took a day or so to realise that this had not been rejected but transformed for the moment and may come in the future. However, there is a sense of shared growth, enthusiasm and responsibility that is enlivening.
Ultimately we have the Spirit of God prodding us to honour the pastoral cycle of continuously bringing ideas together, allowing new ones to be born and moving into action: to explore the mystery of Christ. We are conscious that those of us with leadership in Christian initiation in the parish have the task of keeping the vision of the Rite to the fore in all areas of parish life.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with our spirits!
Catherine D