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Focus on Mission October 2003 - Time for Being, Not just Doing
 

Time for Being, not just Doing - Focus on Mission 18::  Time for Being... not just Doing ::

 

 

As Christians, we are called to continual conversion. Jesus began his public ministry with the call to repentance. Repent! It means, “think about it again.” It is time to reconsider our lives—our values, our commitments, the ways we use our resources. We do that in the context of God’s faithful and patient love for us. This is not a time of anxious soul-searching before a hostile judge, but of discovering new degrees of liberation, growth, fuller life and happiness. What prevents us from finding the time and space needed for reconsidering our lives? For reflection on where we are and where we want to go?

 

 

Prayer

Our loving God, in gratitude we ask you to open our eyes and our hearts to all that distracts us or keeps us from responding fully and lovingly to your invitation to fuller life. Amen.

Scripture Reading

Matthew 4:1-11

Scripture Reflection

Recall the context of the gospel reading. John has just baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit has come down upon him, and the voice is heard declaring, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” As our passage opens, the Spirit is taking Jesus into the desert — away from everything and everyone—for 40 days of prayer, fasting and reflection.

In coming through the waters of baptism, Jesus has felt himself chosen and loved by God.

• What does this sense of being chosen mean for Jesus?

• What is he to expect?

• What is God calling him to be?

Jesus found his answers in the desert. Voices tell him who he is and what he should do:

“If you are the chosen of God, you will be able to satisfy your own hungers. You will be able to prove to anyone that God is really with you and you are specially chosen. You will be able to have importance and power over anyone, anywhere.”

Relating the Scripture to Our Lives

All of the decisions in our lives, from the greatest to the smallest, are supported and guided by our often-unconscious assumptions about life and our hopes for the future.

They are closely related to our personal sense of the acceptable way of life in the U.S. and our own versions of the American dream. It is important for us, therefore, to find the time and space to reflect prayerfully upon the tendencies of our culture—its strengths and its temptations.

However, we face a formidable obstacle: American society is a society of “doing.” Of course, “doing” is not intrinsically evil, but it often prevents us from making the time and space needed for solitude, prayer and reflection. A society that never pauses makes “doing”—consumption, production, and overwork—into an idol. “Doing” can become an idol even for those who work for peace and justice.

Just as Jesus was called, each one of us is called to “go out into the desert,”—amidst our culture of “doing”—in order to rediscover ourselves, our relationship to God and our relationship to one another. We need to find the time and space away from all those who are only too glad to tell us what we really hunger for. We need to let ourselves feel our own hungers and pain. Only then will they be able to reveal to us our deeper yearnings. We need to observe carefully what things we rely on for a sense of well being and security and ask whether they really satisfy our deepest longings.

Raising these questions requires the courage to step out of the flow, out of the in-groups, and out of the mainstream. It requires the kind of freedom and individuality that Americans claim to prize. It requires recapturing a bit of the spirit, which sent Henry David Thoreau to his “desert experience” at Walden Pond: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Discussion Questions

What temptations do you find in U.S. culture that keeps you from responding to God’s call “to go out into the desert”--to make time and space for solitude, prayer and reflection?

How might “desert experiences” change the way you view life?

How might it influence your work for justice and peace?

How is a day such as Take Back Your Time Day (October 24) a positive initiative for both the secular and religious communities in the U.S.? (See panel on the right resource for more information.)

What does “American culture” or “the American dream” or “the American way of life” mean to you? What does it say about the meaning of life, success, wealth, poverty, our real human hungers and needs? What different cultures or sub-cultures have you had contact with, either locally or elsewhere? Are there differences in the ways they understand life, possessions, success, and poverty? What are they? What fits with a life in response to the God of Jesus who has chosen and called us?

What are some of your family’s favorite television programs, ads, news coverage, popular songs. What human hungers do they touch in making their appeal to you? What do they say will satisfy you? What customs or institutions do they support?

 

October - Spinning the World

 

CONGO

News from Kavimvira: “After 7-8 years of war, the academic year began on 8 September in (almost) every part of the Congo. Hopefully, it will be allowed to continue without the repeated and dramatic interruptions of the past. It seems that the State is ready to shoulder its responsibilities (including financial ones). The situation of the schools is dire: classes are too large, the buildings are decrepit and teaching aids are non-existent”. 

 

ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD

September 28th: Andrea Gamba is ordained priest in the Conforti Sanctuary, Parma, by Bishop Maurizio Galli of Fidenza.

 

MEXICO

Salamanca, 4-5 September: meeting of mission and vocation animators. An exchange of experiences and expectations was followed by an assessment of the last semester and a presentation of the activities for the year 2003/2004. A plan was drawn up in view of a greater coordination and a more active participation of the communities in animation. 
Finally, on the basis of the letter of the General Secretariat, preparations got underway for the Continental Meeting on Missionary-Vocation Animation.

 

DEM. REP. OF CONGO

In a message to the archdiocese of Bukavu, the Vicar General denounced the “current clandestine recruitment...training of child soldiers with weapons, ammunition and telephones … secret meetings whose purpose has not yet been disclosed. People fear large scale massacres … The Church, which has always supported peace, will continue her efforts with the conviction that armed conflict will not bring peace to the Congo”.

 

CAMEROON-CHAD

The Theology community gathered in the Cistercian Monastery, Obout, for the community, pastoral and academic planning. This was preceded by a Retreat guided by Fr. P. Tovo. Fr. Larcher presented the Vademecum of the Good Shepherd Parish of which the community is a part.

 

COLOMBIA

On the first Sunday of each month, the Cali community will host a meeting of all the young men interested in a vocational accompaniment. The first four candidates will meet tomorrow for prayer and reflection on the vocational journey of Christ.

 

BURUNDI

30 September: a group of fathers and sisters travelled to Buyengero to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the murder of Frs. O. Maule, A. Marchiol and Katina Gubert. Many people took part in what was a moving experience. 

For JP Educators

 

 

Good and Gracious God, Teacher of all peoples, Bless and guide those of us who seek to educate others about your good news of justice and peace.

Guide us in our work, as we reach out to shape hearts and minds. 

Walk with us as we deal with complex issues, help us to find the right words and actions to communicate your love for all members of the global family.

Support us as we promote critical reflections on local, national and international issues. Renew our commitment, so we can spark courage and empower others to confront injustice.

Allow our vision of a better world to transform spirits. Help us to nurture the skills that will bring this vision to reality. 

Remind us how blessed we are to have this call to proclaim justice and peace and to be able to respond even in small ways.

Give us patience and perseverance in our work. Grace us with fellowship and community. Help us to remember that you are our rest and refreshment. Amen.

 

 

FACTS ABOUT OVERWORK IN THE USA

 

• The United States is the only industrialized country with no minimum paid-leave law.

• Four-weeks minimum paid vacation is the standard in all industrialized countries, except for the United States.

• The average American gets only two weeks of paid vacation.

• Twenty-six percent of Americans take no vacation at all (Boston College survey).

• The average middle income family now works FOUR MONTHS more in total hours than they did in 1979 (economists Barry Bluestone, Stephen Rose).

• Almost 40% of Americans now work more than 50 hours a week, reports U.S. News and World Report and a recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation.

• Americans work up to 12 weeks more in total hours per year than the Europeans (International Labor Organization).

• Time off and shorter hours would actually increase productivity. The research is clear that the extreme hours don’t increase efficiency, they decrease it. Excessive overtime results in downtime throughout the week, a phenomenon measured by productivity researchers since the early part of the 20th century.

• The cost of overwork in the United States is enormous — on bodies, minds, families, soaring health costs, and, yes, even on productivity.

Published - October 2003