From Michelle

What is authentic community for me? It is the fullness of life. It is perseverance when facing the discomfort of home truths. It is the ability to shake off misunderstandings and laugh at our foibles. It is politics, messes, sicknesses, and all the other magnificent stuff that makes us human. It is living closely and authentically with others and all the battering that this implies. It is the road to real love and the road to becoming real. It is a gift to us and it is beautiful. As beautiful as an innocent man carrying a cross on which he will be nailed for the love of all.

- Cathy Kennedy

Ta Love! (I think this came from an online spirituality newsletter she gets)

Good idea

I'm not a great one for synagogues or other places of worship.
When I want to listen to that little voice I go out there for a walk
Geza Vermes

h/t Maggi


Nice site here.

Eucharist Articles

Herbert McCabe, "Eucharistic Change"

Terence Nichols, "'This is my body': how to understand transubstantiation"

Aidan Kavanagh, "The True Believer"

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "Eucharist, Communion and Solidarity"

Pro Ecclesia article: "Eating Christ"

Thanks to the Crew at De Cura Animarum for the links :)

New Norcia Easter 2008

Who are we ???

Alan sent me an email recently and I have taken a long time to answer it! He asks me (amongst other things) :

I've thought about you and the community that you guys have there a good deal. I wonder a lot about how it works. How "are" you a community together? What does that involve for you guys? How does it work in relation to different traditions in the same community?

So I asked the other dudes. Here's what they wrote (and Alan, an email is on its way tonight!!)

Being there for each other; sharing your lives in times of joy and in timesof sadness; being faithful to God and the community; and enjoying the wine of God and man.
-Hilary

For me it involves sharing each others life. The ups and downs. Meals...lots of meals (which I love) and of course drinks and brekkie each Saturday morning.
-Jason

It's about time, commitment, loyalty, love . . .turning up when you don't feel like it 'cos you know that feeling will be gone soon,knowing that sharing life is a key way to grow,that connection is valuable and necessary for ALL of us . . .knowing that I am going to share the rest of my life with these buggers (me included!) And to drink wine, eat good food, laugh, cry, complain, share, parent, hope, dream, love, forgiveKnowing you are not alone . . . And an occasional prayer!
-Chris

Having a bunch of shoulders to lift each other up in the really hardtimes (a bunch is so much better than one), and an understanding ear (orthree) to listen when you just need to get some sh...stuff off yourchest. I guess we are there to share all the bits of our lives (the goodand the bad) as well as sharing a meal or 2 ... and plenty ofwine/coffee. We pray together when we can and probably sometimes wish wehad more opportunities to do so. As a group we have become a bit morelike family than friends.

The different traditions in our community are not really all thatdifferent, and the diversity that does exist only enriches ourcommunity. Some of us have 'changed' (maybe moved is a better word)traditions but we all share our differences helping each other to grow.Not that we always agree with each other, but we're prepared to listenand accept where each of us is in our personal journey with God. In theend I think we are all embracing this sense of a group of people wantingto live out our faith in our daily lives together.
- Matt

Saturday after Wine

Have you ever thought
that growing up meant
realising you don't fit anywhere
and happily getting on with living . . .

Do you read this?

Chris is looking for old friends. Here.

New Year thinking...

How to live life with more rigour?

Is this going to be a good way to sustain prayer life?
Does anyone else use it?

Can I be Roman Catholic in an Anglo catholic sort of way?

I think I am trying to avoid this:

A very large number of the people who attend our services and partake of the Sacraments are disassociated personalities. They are one person on Sunday and another on Monday. They have one mind for the sanctuary and another for the street . . . It is the piety of the disassociated personality. The churchwarden who owns slum property; the devout layman who will not face the problem of war; the earnest brewer who presents a chalice to the church in the suburbs bought with the profits of the drink shops in town; the Christian workman who helps the vicar, and perhaps serves at Mass, and leaves his mates to strive for an improvement of conditions which he knows is short of justice and humanity, and takes gladly when he gets it, though he will not work for it. Don't you know him? The good, respectable fellow who keeps to himself, minds his own business, and is too Christian to be unselfish. All these -- and even the pious lady who attends daily Mass and evensong, and draws her dividends from goodness knows (but she doesn't know, nor care) where -- all these are disassociated personalities, and are not . . . on the road to salvation. (Here)

Role on 2008!