Ron was in his late 80s, a bushman who valued his independence.

He wouldn't let Hospice visit him at home because he didn't want the neighbours to know he was sick. But he did agree to me visiting him at the pub, so I would meet with him every Tuesday at the Devonport Tavern.

My very first visit was on a Friday, and I remember standing at the doorway thinking, ‘What am I doing?'

I hadn't been in a bar since before I was married.

The bar was thick with smoke, and there were two TVs showing a boxing match; people were roaring.

I asked the barmaid where I could find Ron and she pointed to a man by the jukebox.

Ron was such a regular he had his own plaque on the wall and his own chair beneath it.

Our first conversation was very difficult because there was so much noise and he was more interested in the boxing match.

We agreed that next time we would meet on a Tuesday when it was quieter.

Over a five-week period, Ron became more and more frail, so I got him to come to Hospice Daycare once a week, where he could have a decent meal and meet other patients.

One day I had a call from the barmaid asking me to come because Ron did not seem well.

I arrived to find Ron looking dreadful.

I took him home and we called his GP, who recommended he go into a Hospice inpatient unit.

At that stage we didn't have one, so we rang St Joseph's Hospice.

At St Joseph's, Ron sat on the bed and pulled out his mouth organ. He had always promised to play it for me, but when he put the instrument to his lips, no sound came.

We both cried.

Ron died a couple of days later.

All the bar regulars were at his funeral, and that was just the most amazing tribute to a wonderful Devonport character.

My Hospice role was honestly the best I ever had.

It was tough at times, but knowing I made a difference has given me immense satisfaction.

Orla and Brian were devout Irish Catholics.

They shared a very strong faith and had crosses all over their house.

I had been calling in regularly to help Orla care for Brian, who had cancer.

On this particular day, I was on a rostered day off, but Orla found my number and called me and said, "You'd better come quickly, it's time."

I said, "Orla, I'm off duty. But tell me, what is Brian doing?"

She said, "He's sitting at the table eating his porridge."

I said, "Well, Orla, I can probably reassure you that Brian's not dying today."

She said, "He is. He'll be going at three o'clock today. I've prayed to the Holy Spirit. I've prayed to the Novena of the Precious Blood that he will have a holy death and I will be told. And she told me Brian's going today at three o'clock."

Orla had called their only son and told him to be there to say goodbye to his father.

I stopped by to reassure them and saw that Brian was fine, so I went on my merry way.

The next morning I got to work… only to learn that Brian had passed away at exactly three o'clock the previous afternoon, just as Orla had said he would.

To my absolute surprise, she had been right, and I had been wrong.

I'll never forget Orla.

She's affected me hugely over the years in regard to her practice and her total belief in the hereafter.

The reality for me was that her belief was so strong that it came to fruition.

And I don't think it would have mattered what religion she followed - whether it was Hindu or Buddhism or whatever - it was the depth of her belief system that defied all logic and made what she saw, true. Continue reading

Afraid, Mary and the apostles were hiding, but in complete contrast, the Holy Spirit directs the 'door be opened' and redirect the initial Church's focus outward.

New energy dawned with the birth of the Church and the Holy Spirit charged the Apostles and Mary to the missionary task of showing, being and voicing Jesus among the world.

What might Matthew (28:19-20) mean today when he writes Go out to all nations?

Christian Baptism is not a Sacrament for us to be tucked away!

For some, Baptism means becoming a missionary in another country.

For most, it is to continually be alert to those ordinary moments of our day and the people we met in the activities in our day; these moments and activities are opportunities for witnessing a Christ-like attitude and maybe moments for direct evangelisation.

Some years back, an injustice, caused a couple to lose confidence in the Church.

Each time I banged into them when out and about, I would always give them a good hearing as they repeated again the incident. Then I saw them at Mass!

Talking myself up? - hope not! - but for sure, listening was God's Holy Spirit.

Authentic evangelization centres around mutual respectful dialogue.

The evangelist knows that God is already within each person.

Evangelisation is never about winning an argument to convert another to our beliefs as if we are right and they are wrong.

Nor is evangelisation expecting instant results.

Evangelisation is a process of the Holy Spirit, it is without a time frame, model or programme to follow.

Further, Christian witness means we are a letter from Christ to others, "Not written with ink, but with the Spirit of a living God". (2 Corinthians 3:3)

Recently, a friend told me that radiation and chemotherapy have ceased to have any effect. She's decided to live fully with her husband and family until she dies.

"I don't want to die," she tells me leaving me speechless in my powerlessness.

Out of the blue, I begin singing ‘Come Holy Spirit, I need you' and she falls into my arms weeping uncontrollably. I assure her of her goodness and of God's passionate love for her.

Talking myself up? - hope not! - but for sure ‘out of the blue' was God's Holy Spirit.

Joy and encouragement are a constant theme in Pope Francis' document called The Joy of the Gospel - Evangelii Gaudium.

"There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter... I understand the grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the greatest distress." (Evangelii Gaudium No 6)

Then again in No 10: "An evangeliser must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!"

We're not to live lives that seem like Lent without Easter Pope Francis says in article 6 or as if we have just come back from a funeral in article 10.

And to priests he writes: A missionary heart... never closes itself off, never retreats into its own security, never opts for rigidity and defensiveness. It realizes that it has to grow in its own understanding of the Gospel and in discerning the paths of the Spirit, and so it always does what good it can, even if in the process, its shoes get soiled by the mud of the street." (Evangelii Gaudium No 45)

For Pope Francis, the Church grows by attraction.

In the book 'How to Read the New Testament' Etienne Charpentier writes: "If a non-believer, utterly ignorant of Christianity, went into a place where Christians were worshipping, he would see from their attitude that something was happening: if he asked them what it was like, they would reply, 'The Lord Jesus is present among us, he invites us to his table, we eat with him, we listen to him and speak to him.'"

• Sue Seconi is a parishioner in the Catholic parish of Whanganui.

Peace is the work for justice and the output of charity.

The Church preaches peace because peace is a sign and fruit of the promise of Christ, the Redeemer.

Peace is more than a detente or a passive-aggressive way of being in the world.

Where peace is the avoidance of decisions or of truth it becomes "peace at any price" and is totally utilitarian, another product to be wheeled out when the politics of the home, country, school, or parish require it.

It is not real peace, because the underlying conflict it covers up still remains because truth has been denied.

Peace and truth go together, just as justice and freedom do because these proclaim the presence of God's Kingdom of which we are the witnesses.

Evangelisation: St Pope Paul VI in his 1975 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi wrote of the Church's role of evangelisation in the world. He asked three questions:

• In our day, what has happened to that hidden energy of the Good News, which is able to have a powerful effect on human conscience?
• To what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming the people of this century?
• What methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effect?

He continues, ‘The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve'(5).

The Emmaus experience is each persons', as the Scriptures open our eyes to the presence of God. Born of this, you and I go out to "gospel" others in a way that is inviting, welcoming and freeing. The transformation is an ‘interior change' that moves us to see the Other as friend and not as foe and into conversations with them.

Witness is the key for Pope Paul.

"Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness.

"Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good.

"Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine.

"Through this wordless witness, these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live:

• "Why are they like this?
• "Why do they live in this way?
• "What or who is it that inspires them?
• "Why are they in our midst?

"Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one.

"Here we have an initial act of evangelization." (21)

Pope Paul continues and notes the need to evangelise baptised people ‘who for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it.

Christian witness is our call.

Witness must become our flesh!

The most profound call to Christian witness perhaps comes in families, where, fully clothed, we are as it were almost naked; known 'warts and all'.

• Joe Grayland is a theologian and a priest of the Diocese of Palmerston North. His latest book is titled: Catholics. Prayer, Belief and Diversity in a Secular Context (Te Hepara Pai, 2020).

The church in the United States has been infected by the same harshness and polarization that inflame our politics.

Our faith is challenged by ongoing polemics between Catholics labeled progressive and conservative.

The due reverence afforded the papacy as one of the greatest sources of unity and cohesion for a global church is being undermined by a small but vocal chorus of vigilantes led by a small number of cardinals and bishops.

What is the source of the tensions and conflicts we have in the church today?

I believe the reason for the uneasiness is the pope's emphasis on mission.

There is a profound difference between a church that is a nest or a niche, in which one can find peace, tranquility and seeming stability, and a church that sees itself as missionary through and through—always going out, reaching out to the margins, as Pope Francis likes to say.

Such a church necessarily does not wait for outsiders to come to it; rather, it seeks them out and goes to them.

Such a church is not overly concerned with its identity nor with the past. Rather, such a church lives and breathes a "culture of encounter."

In 2012 CARA researchers Mary Gautier, Paul Perl and Stephen Fichter reported that there was a telling difference between how the two types of priest viewed their vocations.

The diocesan priests tended to view their calling as a niche, as a position of status, as a function in a well-established organization.

The religious order priests tended to view their calling as a mission, as a going out to engage an often incredulous and unfamiliar world with the Gospel message of Jesus.

Francis, our first Jesuit pope, embodies this missionary impulse.

It is no secret that Pope Francis is getting pushback from certain corners of the church these days.

The church in the United States has been infected by the same harshness and polarization that inflame our politics.

Our faith is challenged by ongoing polemics between Catholics labeled progressive and conservative.

The due reverence afforded the papacy as one of the greatest sources of unity and cohesion for a global church is being undermined by a small but vocal chorus of vigilantes led by a small number of cardinals and bishops.

What is the source of the tensions and conflicts we have in the church today?

I believe the reason for the uneasiness is the pope's emphasis on mission.

There is a profound difference between a church that is a nest or a niche, in which one can find peace, tranquility and seeming stability, and a church that sees itself as missionary through and through—always going out, reaching out to the margins, as Pope Francis likes to say.

Such a church necessarily does not wait for outsiders to come to it; rather, it seeks them out and goes to them. Such a church is not overly concerned with its identity nor with the past. Rather, such a church lives and breathes a "culture of encounter."

In 2012 CARA researchers Mary Gautier, Paul Perl and Stephen Fichter reported that there was a telling difference between how the two types of priest viewed their vocations.

The diocesan priests tended to view their calling as a niche, as a position of status, as a function in a well-established organization.

The religious order priests tended to view their calling as a mission, as a going out to engage an often incredulous and unfamiliar world with the Gospel message of Jesus.

Francis, our first Jesuit pope, embodies this missionary impulse.

To know Christ is to experience something that happens in one's heart and total being.

The surpassing knowledge of God proposed by St. Paul is a relationship with God, friendship with God in God's very self.

Arguments and persuasion by reasoning alone are not enough.

While the methods of effective communication and organizational planning can help out efforts to evangelize, accomplishing the mission of the church or of any other Christian organization has to be the result of God's grace working in the imaginations, wills and most authentic desires of those doing the outreach and in those to whom the outreach is directed.

The most effective way to open others to an experience of the living God in Jesus is by giving a credible witness of God's love.

Unless the agents themselves—and by this I mean all of the baptized—practice what they preach, walk the walk, the outreach is merely cosmetic and the results will be nonexistent or short lived. Continue reading

Once we've decided to trust someone, we are likely to believe that whatever they tell us is true.

Even if it isn't.

In human society credibility is power, and that power can be used for good or ill.

Exhibit A: Hitler. The German people didn't embrace Nazi genocide overnight; they were led to it by a man they trusted.

The problem is that he was a man they should not have trusted. But that was revealed only after several years and millions of dead bodies.

Truth does not always carry the day.

Sometimes, we find it easy to believe a lie because the person telling it makes it easy.

We believe them, maybe because they are like us in some way, maybe because they inspire us to greatness or give us hope, maybe because they say what we want to hear, or what we ourselves are afraid to say.

They are credible witnesses who deliver convincing testimony.

So here's my question: what would it take for us to believe the truth of what God has revealed in Christ Jesus?

And more, what would make us credible and convincing witnesses to that truth?

For me to believe what someone says about God, I have to trust the person who is saying it.

Yes, it needs to make rational sense.

Yes, it needs to be beautiful.

But more than anything else, the person saying it must come across as utterly convinced, completely sold-out, to what he or she is saying.

A witness is compelling only when he is certain.

As the writer of Hebrews put it, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).

Still, faith can be seen. It is visible in how believers live; in what they do and don't. Lives speak far more eloquently than lips.

It's time we start to consider the possibility that the world doesn't believe our message because it doesn't believe us. Continue reading

• Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a Catholic, wife, and mother of eight. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, she is an author, speaker, and musician, and serves as a senior editor at Ave Maria Press. Find Jaymie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @YouFeedThem.
• Image: National Review

"Newness and life will not come out of a Church which still wants to look on itself as an institution of power, even a renewed institution, or from a Church which is simply a focal point of organised doing good or social reform," Archbishop Martin said.

The archbishop of Dublin said the church must "witness more concretely to the message of Jesus".

"We have to live in such a way that the energy of life and vitality which spring from Jesus' Resurrection can really touch our hearts and change our church," he said.

Speaking in Dublin's Pro Cathedral, Archbishop Martin said a renewed Church would be "pro-life in the fullest sense of that term".

"If Christians have a passion for life then they should be in the forefront in the fight for life, at every moment of its existence . . .

"We have to defend the right to life and we must at the same time always accompany that defence with a commitment to ensure that all can live their lives with a level of dignity worthy of the Lord of life in whose image they have been created," he said.

Archbishop Martin said Christians should be driving forces for a society in which young people receive reasons for hope.

"We have great young people but our years of prosperity have not left them a legacy of hope," he said.

The Dublin-born archbishop had a series of Vatican appointments, including the Holy See's permanent observer at the United Nations Office in Geneva, before being appointed coadjutor archbishop of Dublin in 2003. He succeeded as archbishop in 2004.

Source:

Irish Times

Image: RTE News

Airports "are places that increasingly reflect the globalised reality of our time. Here one finds people of a wide variety of nationalities, cultures, religions, social status and age. One also comes across all manner of difficult human situations that demand increasing attention."

Benedict spoke compassionately when reflecting on people in stressful circumstances, for example, waiting anxiously at border control without the necessary documentation either as immigrants or asylum seekers.

He also mentioned the inconvenience caused by anti-terrorism security measures, and encouraged the chaplains to support people in the human situations they find themselves in.

As chaplains you are to "proclaim the Good News with renewed vigour by your words, by your presence, by your example and by the witness you bear."

"Be assured that even in chance encounters, people are able to recognise a man of God, and that often a small seed falling on good soil can bring forth abundant fruit," Benedict said.

Observing the demanding and technologically challenging nature of work at airports, where often more attention is paid to efficiency and productivity than to human relationships than "love of neighbour," Benedict also encouraged the chaplains to be a "counter-sign" a living witness to God, and to be generous and loving towards airport staff.

"Never to show indifference to those one meets" he said.

Sources

• VIS
• Image: Wild about travel

The Pope then went on to identify three preconditions for a priest's life to ensure its conformity to Christ: "the aspiration to collaborate with Jesus in spreading the Kingdom of God, the gratuitousness of pastoral commitment, and an attitude of service".

Continue reading the Holy Father's talk to seminarians, Priests: Commitment to God, service and exemplary life

Image: The Latin Mass Society