History: a personal perspective

"Time present and time past
Are both contained perhaps in time future
And time future contained in time past”
T.S Eliot “ The Four Quartets”

“the past I felt was a ghost with the spirit and soul of some mischievous child. Which hid somewhere along my way, and popped out suddenly to tickle my consciousness and tap on my memory and be gone again before I had time to put a name on it. It crept up slightly and pretended to be the present, and then nipped away again leaving me wondering if there really were any way of telling one from the other.”
From “an experiment in Education” by Sybil Marshall

Before coming home to the Catholic Church, we attended each Sunday, a traditional Anglican church.
The building by Australian standards was old and beautiful.
Each Sunday we would sing hymns by John Henry Newman).

(At the same time my spirit was being awakened by His Spirit to the beautiful words in the Gospel of St. John Chapter Six.)

Each Sunday just prior to communion I would sense “the communion of saints” surrounding us and lifting their voices in worship before the throne.
The dilemma was always the same: how could I receive each Sunday what I knew was only a symbol of Jesus when I had the opportunity to receive Him in full.

And so eventually one Sunday with tears in my eyes I told my puzzled husband why I could no longer receive communion at the Anglican service.
I desired,
longed for,
hungered to receive all of Jesus
and be in full communion with all those who had gone before.

Of course how we all subsequently came into the Catholic church one glorious Easter Vigil is not what I am writing about in this post. No, rather it is that sense of the church, past, present and still to come that fills me still at each Eucharist with awe and wonder and yes greatfulness.
Truly we can raise our hands in praise to God for His church begun in Christ Jesus our Lord!

The Assumption

Bishop Theoteknos of Livias (c. 550- 650) concerning the Assumption: "For Christ took His immaculate flesh from the immaculate flesh of Mary, and if He had prepared a place in heaven for the Apostles, how much more for His mother; if Enoch had been translated and Elijah had gone to heaven, how much more Mary, who like the moon in the midst of the stars shines forth and excels among the prophets and Apostles? For even though her God-bearing body tasted death, it did not undergo corruption, but was preserved incorrupt and undefiled and taken up into heaven with its pure and spotless soul."

Here is our craft activity for the feast of the Assumption of Mary:

I answered your call

We spent last weekend celebrating with Duncan, Tony, and Joe as they took their first vows as Capuchin Friars. They had been in the U.S since June last year .

Their profession of vows took place at St Anthony's Shrine which is the National Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua.The church is very beautiful inside. We were welcomed as part of their family by the friars as we waited for the Mass to begin. Duncan asked Caleb to read the psalm and Lachlan volunteered to help bring up the gifts.

Duncan was particularly pleased that his grandmother could travel from New Zealand to help celebrate the occasion.Her faith and those of her sisters is an inspiration to him. His maternal great-grandfather was brought up on lighthouses in isolated parts of New Zealand and Mass must have been a very rare occurance yet the light of faith of these good people has been passed down through generations.And even when those of newer generations such as myself have not always been true to this faith, the turning back to it has indeed been a "coming home".

Saint Francis has always played a part in our family's development. Both Clive and I were enrolled in the third order as Anglicans(and prior to us becoming engaged Clive had considered joining the Anglican friars in Auckland!)Then when we came into the church Clive took St Francis for his confirmation saint. And since that time St Francis' intercession has always been asked for in the "trimmings" we add to our family evening rosary.

Here are the words Duncan spoke as his profession :

Praise and glory to the Most Holy Trinity!

I Brother Duncan, moved by divine inspiration, wish to live the Gospel and follow more closely in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, in the presence of my Brothers here assembled, and at your hands, Brother Julian, with solid faith and steadfast will: I vow to God the Father, Holy and Almighty to live in obedience, without property and in chastity for the term determined by my superiors. I promise to faithfully observe the life and Ruleof the Friars Minor confirmed by Pope Honorius according to the Constitutions of the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor. therefore with all my heart I commit myself

to this Fraternity, so that, through the working of the Holy Spirit, the example of Mary Immaculate, the intercession of our Father Francis and all the Saints and with the help of my Brothers, I may attain the fulness of love in the service of god, of the Church, and of all people.

Duncan is home with us for 3 weeks before returning to Melbourne.

Wordless Wednesday

The rosary on u-tube

For those who pray the rosary and because today is Saturday here I am posting a link for you to pray the joyful mysteries with a u-tube video as an aid to meditation and devotion.Why pray the rosary? Jenny gives a good explanation on what the rosary has come to mean to her and her family.And Mrs Pea shares what Mary means to their family.

Of vegemite and tulips!

Since the day after Mr Eleven's birthday we have had a week of gastro! Both Mr7 and 11 sucumbed, the later getting sick the worst. During the recovery they are fans of vegemite toast and I have become an enthusiastic sprayer of Glen20! Now dd16 and ds18 are showing signs of weakening, looks like I might be lucky last!! Anyway I thought rather than dwell on the negative I would post these beautiful spring pictures from our Capuchin son in Wisconsin where it would appear "spring has sprung"! Apparently Duncan says they are particularly fond of Tulips around Burlington.

The St. Francis Friary and Retreat Center in Burlington was founded in 1929 as a seminary by Polish Franciscans from Pulaski, WI, on a 170 acre farm bordered on two sides by the Fox River. Shrines on the site to Our Lady of Chestochowa and Our Lady of Ostrobama became a major pilgrimage destination especially for Polish-Americans from Chicago and Milwaukee.

with a fork in her hand

I received an e-mail recently from a priest who attended the funeral of a fellow priest who had only been ordained in 2002. In the e-mail he talked about how we can see earthly gifts as signs of God’s love for his children.

These earthly pleasures, when we recognize them as gifts of God, are simply a foretaste of the eternal gifts to come! Therefore, we cannot misuse or abuse these gifts, but see in these gifts God’s presence. For instance doesn’t it make sense for people to say a prayer before they eat, lest they see food as a “right” rather than a “gift?”

A Priest who knew this well before he was called home told the story about a woman who wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand. When her priest asked the reason for the strange request, the woman reminded him of what waiters would say to her at church banquets, dinners, and parties, “Please keep the fork, the best is yet to come!”

Telling Mathematical Tales

In English a car can circle a building but it can’t do any rectangling or pentangling; at least not without a switch to another language. But there are other languages says Associate Professor Bill Barton, Head of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Auckland where shapes do behave as verbs, and it is possible to speak of pentangling, and a rectangle is seen as something that rectangulates. One is the Navaho people of North America.,
If we imagine then, as Bill does, what sort of geometry might emerge from a language where shape is seen as an action, we are likely to concede that it could be quite different from the geometry we learned at school. The chances are it would be more dynamic, perhaps with the basic unit as a moving circle rather than a straight line.
If maths is a creative human activity rather than a set of finite rules waiting to be discovered, this has pedagogical implication. An important one in Bill’s view, is that “play” and exploration need to be more highly valued at all levels.
Play is encouraged at the elementary level of arithmetic in primary grades, then vanishes to be replaced throughout high school and through undergraduate studies with an unremitting focus on acquiring knowledge and skills. It emerges only at postgraduate level and beyond, where for mathematical researchers, it becomes the centre of the creative part of their work.
“Mathematics is a created world, a world of the imagination a kind of academic Middle earth,” says Bill. “Research mathematicians play with abstractions. They make things up. And then they manipulate things in their made-up world to see what happens. It’s much more creative than making up a game. Often they’re making up the playing field as well.”
“Mathematical thinking is about relationships between abstractions. Teachers aim to help learners manipulate abstract concepts. But what do we do when children have trouble with maths,” says Bill “we go back to the concrete.” A much more useful approach Bill believes would be to give learners more practice with the abstract, perhaps by drawing maps, or plans of houses, or playing games with sequences of numbers, to see what happens and find patterns but without any expectation of a “correct” result.
“Learners need to get used to numbers being things to play with, because that’s what mathematicians do.”

(extracts from an article by Judy Wilford in "Ingenio et Labore: the University of Auckland Alumini Magazine")

A birthday on the feast of the Visitation

Master T. had a great day of celebration 2 days after his younger brother. He is now eleven; where did all those years go but seriously having a baby at 40 was a wonderful privilage. From the moment he was placed in her arms he became his oldest sister's "darling". His oldest brother has sucessfully taught him to name and describe all things ornothological. His second oldest brother modeled a love of books which Master T. is now handing on to the youngest in the family. His 3rd oldest brother taught him well how to serve reverently at Mass and how to play a mean game of light sabres. His youngest sister taught him that laughter is an essential quality for survival in a family and his little brother gave him someone to pass all this wonderful knowledge down to. And the pictures of the day speak for themselves!

A Seventh Birthday

I kidded him the seven birthday was a “no go” but Master L. proved me wrong.
The day began the night before when ds18 and dd16 helped put up/draw the birthday theme poster/blow up balloons etc so that when Mr Seven came down to the living area this is what he would see.

Mr Seven and his slightly older brother then headed off with yours truly to a local park. First off we hit the playground. But this didn’t last long as we went on a tour of the park noting the changes since our last trip

here. We used to call this park the “no” park as ball gameswere not permitted except in one small area and the list of restrictions was almost as big as the total area of the park! But things have changed! There are now several small lakes that connect with the main one plus more paths/walks to explore, birds to see etc.
After our outdoor play

we headed indoors to another play area, slightly “wacky” near by.

Then it was home for a special birthday tea menu selected by Mr Seven and

present time followed by a stupendous cake made by dd16. And so ended a perfect day!