Happiness is an Inside Job

Someone commented today:

“Hi, Thanks very much for the book suggestion (“Happiness is an Inside Job” by John Powell) will try to get my hands on a copy. So very sorry to burden you with my probs, you have so much on your plate. I have never met someone that has sacrificed so much as you have, you are a very special person and you deserve to be very happy. I don’t know how u have held so many ugly secrets thru the years and still remain a sane person, those evil people deserv to be revealed. I really appreciate having you as a friend. Hope you are well”

This is my reply which will explain some things you may not have realized about me…

Some will say I am not sane doing what I have done. (Giving away the comfortable life and the respected position of a parish priest to marry a poor girl from the Philippines and take on the responsibility of supporting her whole family, while having no job to go to, just to expose something that will probably not get fixed).  But thanks, yes it was hard to keep it all to myself and live in the institutions that I spent so much time in. The seminary at Manly should have been heaven on earth but felt like I was in hell. Also some of the impostors I lived with made my life hell (but I think I already said that in my story). Please dont think you are burdening me. Something Josefina never understood but I didn’t see caring for people as a job. It is my love. And the people I helped over the years, I really loved them. Which is why I did as much as I could to spend time with people and show that they are valuable (especially those who didn’t feel valued).

I remember one night i was just about to head out to a party and a plump girl I didn’t recognize was waiting at the back of the church (it was a Saturday night). She said to me, "Do you have somewhere you need to go right now?" And I regret that I said, "Well I am going out, but I have time to speak briefly." She then said, "OK dont worry" and turned to cry. I snapped into action and said, "I'm kidding, where would a priest have to go on a Saturday night, come and have a coffee.."

So we sat and chatted and she confided that she intended to kill herself that night and she had travelled from Blacktown (where she remembered me as the priest from there when she was a young girl at school). She said, "You made me feel special whenever you talked to me in the playground and you are the only man I ever trusted" Then she told me that her father had sexually abused her since a small girl.

I was stunned. If I didn’t stop to give her time that night she may have ended her life! She then talked for hours. I have to be honest and say that she was not attractive to look at, and quite fat. But as she spoke I saw her real inner beauty and understood her soul's brilliance. She did decide to take the advice I gave her and we kept in touch for a while.

There have been many like her over the years but I seldom hear from any of them and I actually get pleasantly surprised when people do contact me and thank me for something I said or did years ago. I am saying this to just explain why I didn't just go off and leave priesthood when I fell in love with Josefina. That is why I wanted to stay a priest even though I love Josefina more than anything in the whole world. I did have room in my heart for others. I did care about everyone I spoke to who was genuinely interested in getting to know Jesus better. Although I have been saddened to know that some priests have only used their position to abuse people's trust and that is why i could not just sit back and condone the abusive predators I knew occupied positions of trust in the Church.

I do hope you read that book by John Powell, Julie. I know you will be grateful to me for telling you about it and probably tell me you wish you read it when you were younger.. It is really an impressive insight into Happiness. I have read many books on the subject and have gleaned the golden nuggets from each, but I also had the luxury of time to develop a deep and real relationship with the Author of the Universe, so I am now the happiest person in the world. I don’t say this because I want to boast but I am just explaining... happiness is a choice.

No one should endure unhappiness, becos its your own choice whether you put up with an unhappy situation or you move away from it.. Can I conclude this one chat with this anecdote I have said at Mass a few times..

“A puppy was chasing its tail and an old dog asked it why. He said, ‘I heard that if I catch my tail I will be happy’. The old dog said, ‘I just leave my tail alone and I find it follows me where ever I go’. That is like happiness.. you don’t seek for it, it will follow you if you have the right attitude to life. I believe I am the happiest person in the world and its becos I live each day the life I want to live and it’s a life of giving yourself to others. Happiness comes from serving others, that’s what Jesus said.. and that is why I always notice that butchers are the most outgoing and happy people.. They are always serving people! Priests should also be very happy people.. so if you see a grumpy one, he can't be authentic.. steer away!

Blessings on your day!

I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church.

A friend asked me, “I am sure you have been asked before, but have you ever thought of turning Anglican?” Yes, I have been asked many times, and I would like to share the essence of my reply so you don’t need to ask me again.

Did you know that during an Anglican service or a Catholic Mass they both pray the same “profession of faith”? And some are surprised to hear that we both say, “I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church”. Yes we were one church for a long time, right up to 1536 when King Henry VIII disputed the authority of the Pope in Rome. But the Church of England was not officially structured as a separate denomination until 1562 under Queen Elizabeth I. You can read the history of the split on the web but I will tell you the short version of the separation here.  

If you trace the origins of Anglicanism (Church of England) it was founded on a selfish motive of the monarch and flawed logical reasoning. King Henry VIII of England was a Catholic and sought to divorce his lawful wife and marry another woman and the priests and bishops of his Church opposed it as un-Scriptural and against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. So he just started his own Church and put himself as its head. That is what the Church of England still believes: the monarch is the head of the church, regardless of his/her theology or practice. What would it be like if Catholicism allowed priests to marry and we passed on the Papacy to the Pope’s son?

And this form of Protestantism (protesting) teaches that if you don’t like some of the tenets of what Jesus taught you can merely dispense with them and start your own church (which many have done since).

But if you do look more deeply into it, Anglicans have discounted a number of the teachings of Jesus & Paul and therefore significantly altered the beliefs of Jesus. I still also hold the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus to be vital to my faith as well as the relationship I have with Jesus' Mother Mary, while most “protestants” and the Anglicans think she is not significant, just a case of God needed a virgin in Palestine and went, “Eeny, meenie, miney, moe! You will do Mary of Nazareth..”

Just because I don’t agree with certain practices of the Catholic Church, I am not going to leave my religion and start another one or join another ‘protestant’ faith. I am going to try and purify the religion I am part of.  I totally believe that Jesus Christ gave authority to St Peter to be the head of the Church, but as far as insisting that every other successive Pope voted in by a group of his peers inheriting that authority, I strongly doubt it. It is laughable to suggest also that this man is infallible as Catholics are expected to believe of the elected Pope.

I am optimistic that Pope Francis will be a true man of God, but if he turns out to another fraud like Benedict, then I will not lose my religion. That is because its my religion, not the Pope’s or any priests.

Oh and why do I say Benedict is a fraud? Well, when I was in the seminary we used to study the writings of a certain Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger. He taught some things which were quite radical in his earlier years but when he was elected Cardinal, things changed and he recanted some of his earlier theological positions. He then became very fundamentalist in his views and doctrinally quite rigid. He was right hand man to Pope John Paul II and naturally got elected as his successor taking on the name of Pope Benedict XVI. If you read my book Unholy Silence (available at www.unholysilence.com) you will read my other contentious writings about what he failed to do as Pope. He is also rumoured to be in love with his secretary and personal assistant, a good looking German priest called Father Georg Gänswein whom he appointed as “Monsignor”, a rumour strengthened by the fact that he didn’t return to Germany when he resigned as Pope but instead chose to co-habit in a unit made for him and “Gorgeous Georg” as he is nicknamed amongst the curia who are in on the charade.

Read more: http://www.queerty.com/andrew-sullivan-pope-gay-living-with-his-sexetary-20130228/

Anyway, despite the bad popes or priests or even naughty nuns for that matter, I am still a Catholic. I can have problems with my own family, but I am still going to remain a member. I am not going to leave my family even if we have a falling out over my persistence in persecuting the pretenders in the Church.

I have been wishing I could find a combination of Catholicism's mystery and antiquity & true religious' sacrificial living with the charismatic charm of "pentecostal" styled praise and worship but can't find it. When I attempted to offer it (in the Masses I prayed) I found people complaining I was trying to be too trendy (‘a modernist’ to use their term?) and some others criticised me for 'acting too pious'. It seems people want one or the other.. they want a full on robotic man who follows the rubrics like a Benedict XVI clone or they want Pastor Heuston from Hillsong!

I am sure there is some Church somewhere where the priest is preaching a relevant Faith-filled message, true to the Gospel and also reverently inspirational and in touch with where people need the Holy Spirit. I have been to many Masses where I feel uplifted and have been to a few "protestant" services where I felt inspired to tears but inevitably one will start spruiking the virtues of “tithing” (giving a tenth of your gross income to his church) or charitable giving to the collections..

I can never see how giving cash to a man equates with giving yourself heart and soul to God, or loving Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

I know its rare these days to find anyone ‘popular’, a celebrity for instance, who is publicly giving thanks to God for their blessings - who regularly worships anywhere - but my prayer and hope is that one day we will have restored our confidence in organized religion and will truly believe that our ministers have been called and chosen to help lead us to live better lives and give our gifts and talents to the service of God. 

Maybe we have reached a time in human history where we need to work for the formation of ONE CHURCH and ONE RELIGION where people can worship together the ONE GOD.

Can the Pope tell God what to do? Catholics say he can..

Today's reflection is on the first reading from Mass today on 22nd April 2013

A reading from The Acts of the Apostles (11:1-18)

The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles (Greeks, who were not Jews) too had accepted the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, "You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them."
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying, "I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when in a trance I had a vision, something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into it, I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.' But I said, 'Certainly not, sir, because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'  But a second time a voice from heaven answered, 'What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.'  This happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.   Just then three men appeared at the house where we were, who had been sent to me from Caesarea.  The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house.  He related to us how he had seen (the) angel standing in his house, saying, 'Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.' As I began to speak, the holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?" When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, "God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too."

When I was seven I was in Nepean Hospital having my tonsils out and a little boy was being wheeled into the same room. He looked terrified. He asked me what I was in for. I told him I was getting my tonsils out. I reciprocated by asking him why he was in hospital. “I am getting circumcised” he said faintly.

“Whoa!” I yelled, “When I had that operation, I couldn’t walk for a year!”
I didn’t tell him I had it done when I was a baby!

But apparently many people do still have their boys circumcised but no longer for religious reasons. It’s mostly done for the aesthetic appearance and hygiene or because ‘Dad had it done’. Well, in Jesus’s time it was a big issue for the Jews. It was a rite of identification and Jews did not associate with the uncircumcised as is evident in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (but for the life of me I can’t imagine asking someone “show me your pee-pee before I will talk to you”).

But Peter in this reading explains that the old rules of the Jews are no longer relevant for followers of Jesus, and in fact serve as obstacles to bringing people closer to God. In the reading we hear Peter telling the stubborn rule-enforcers that he had seen the Spirit of God descend on people who were not official members of the “Church” community (those not directly appointed Apostles or one of Jesus’ immediate group of disciples) and he therefore ordered them be acknowledged because God can give His Spirit and leadership to whomsoever He chooses. God is not bound by our laws.

Although Catholics will insist that He is, by quoting our Lord after He assigned the “keys to the kingdom” to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in Heaven” (Matthew 18:18). They say this teaching means that whoever is appointed Pope (and is therefore a successor of Peter) will inherit this divine authority and has the power to tell God what to do.

In this fallacious teaching the Catholic Church prohibits certain things (e.g. gay marriage, contraception, euthanasia) which Jesus never taught and forbids certain people from things (e.g. divorced and re-married people are not permitted to receive Holy Communion) and expects God to enforce those regulations when it comes to the final judgment of humanity.

The Church still forbids the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday but in my youth, you were not allowed to eat meat on any Friday, but you could pile your plate high with salmon and prawns as I witnessed in some presbyteries on Good Friday!

I have seen so many hypocrites wearing all the religious regalia of a priest or bishop as to be able to discern that they do not follow God’s ways and I have seen many whom the Catholic Church calls, “heretics” or “apostates” doing service for the poor and walking in the Ways of Jesus, giving spiritual guidance and care to those who most need it.

I choose to interpret this excerpt from Acts as directing Catholics to be careful in whom they trust and to whom they follow when it comes to religious leadership.

You don’t need me to tell you, there have been so many good uncircumcised and non-Catholic Christians who have led holy lives while there are many donning the robes of self-righteousness in the Catholic faith who have raped and abused the vulnerable.

You be the judge of whom God’s Holy Spirit has been given to.  

Today's Mass readings 16th April 2013 - Stephen and Saul

Reading 1 Acts 7:51—8:1a

Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you always oppose the Holy Spirit;
you are just like your ancestors.
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?
They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one,
whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.
You received the law as transmitted by angels,
but you did not observe it.”

When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice,
covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice,
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”;
and when he said this, he fell asleep.

Now Saul was consenting to his execution.

Responsorial Psalm PS 31:3cd-4, 6 and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab

R. (6a) Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
My trust is in the LORD;
I will rejoice and be glad of your mercy.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plottings of men.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Jn 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

 

Stephen was a brave hero who stood up for what he believed was the right thing to do. He got stoned to death but at least he died like a man and his story is still being told. Saul (who later became St Paul) was the coward who held the jackets of the men who stoned him. The gutless wonder who approved of the execution. He later met Jesus (in a spiritual way) and he repented. God used him later to spread the Good News and he redeemed himself, even surviving a few stonings himself. Saul is proof that its never too late to change. Stop holding the robes of those who are doing the punishing and start standing up for right. Oppose those frauds who are pretending to be virtuous by shutting down everyone who criticises them.

The men who were doing the stoning of Stephen were religious leaders, condemning the innocent and defending the guilty. Nothing has changed...

In the Gospel Jesus tells us that He is the living Bread that we ought to work hard to receive.
Try and make an effort and receive it more frequently. Instead of using the excuse that there are no good priests around, get in your vehicle and start "shopping around" until you find one..There are still some good ones left. I would recommend highly Fr Pat Hurley at Good Shepherd Hoxton Park.

He is very holy and humble and calls himself Brother Pat, not Father. And he sits in the pews and listens to the readings with the congregation instead of seating himself on a throne like the other imposters who have replaced Jesus with themselves..

They see themselves as worthy of everyone's gaze during Mass instead of letting the focus be on the Tabernacle or the Crucified image of Jesus...