Waitangi Day Reflection

Waitangi Day Sermon

Marcelles Amiatu

Today our country celebrates Waitangi day.

178 years ago today, the leaders of two peoples,
Maori and Pakeha negotiated and signed a document for all to live as one. To love one another.

Our gospel today talks about love, it talks about covenant. Jesus in today's gospel says:

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Love each other as I have loved you. That pretty much sums up our sermon for today.

Jesus in our gospel this morning is explaining to his disciples how their joy and their lives may be completed and fulfilled by remaining in his love and loving each other. Jesus is painting a picture for his disciples so that they may come to understand his "Treaty" the Treaty of Jesus, the covenant of Jesus, the command of Jesus. To love one another just as he loved us.

The main point of our gospel this morning is clear. The picture of the intimate union, relationship of believers with Jesus. The disciples lives depended on their union, their relationship with Christ.

The Treaty was intended by Great Britain to be an exchange of sovereignty in return for a guarantee of the authority of the chiefs and the protection of Mäori land and resource rights.

When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed 178 years ago, two people became one.

For the people to live as one, a covenant was needed so that each party would continue to look-out for each other - to supply for each other, and to love each other.

Just as the Treaty of Waitangi serves as the founding document of our country, and is central to New Zealand law. The treaty of Jesus serves as a reminder for Christians to keep his commands, to abide in him, and to love one another as he loves us.

So because of the Treaty of Jesus, there is this gift, of being one with God just as the Treaty of Waitangi brought to peoples together. But do your best to preserve this gift. Keep this Treaty of Jesus a living gift.
.
Just as we do our best to preserve the Treaty of Waitangi we must also do our best to preserve the Treaty of Jesus as a living Treaty and work toward it’s full and final settlement.

The challenge for us as Kiwi’s. Today all celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi. But what are we doing about the Treaty of Jesus today? Is it just an event some 2000 years ago, or do we need to make it our own today? Do you need to acknowledge that we are God’s taonga, confess the ways that we have lived apart from God, and decide to step back under God’s tino rangatiratanga? Do we need to commit ourselves to keeping the Treaty a living document, and work together toward full and final settlement? Such is the Treaty of Jesus and the beauty of one people and faith.

Ki te ingoa o te Matua, o te Tamaiti, o te Wairua Tapu.
Amene.

Waitangi Day Readings

First Reading

Isaiah 32:15-18

¹⁵ until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
    and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷ The effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
¹⁸ My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

Psalm 84:9-13

9 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;

 give ear, O God of Jacob.
 10 Turn your eyes, O God, our shield;
 look on the face of your anointed.

11 One day within your courts

 is better than a thousand elsewhere.
 The threshold of the house of God
 I prefer to the dwellings of the wicked.

12 For the LORD God is a sun, a shield;

 the LORD will give us his favor and glory.
 He will not withhold any good
 to those who walk without blame.
 13 O LORD of hosts, how blessed
 is the man who trusts in you!

Gospel Reading John 15: 9-12

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Gospel Reading | Monday 5th February 2018

+ A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark.

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

The gospel of the Lord.

Six Principles of Liturgy - David Haas

by Judith Courtney

Above: David Haas

On October 10^th, David Haas breezed into Dunedin. After presenting a total of nine workshops in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, he flew out of Auckland on October 16^th leaving behind a trail of warm hearts, large smiles, pondering minds and enthused liturgists and pastoral musicians.

Prior to his week in New Zealand, David had been keynote speaker at the Australian Pastoral Musicians Conference, a biennial Conference, held this year in Perth and attended by 350 delegates from all over Australia with a light sprinkling from New Zealand. Watch out for the 2019 Conference in Melbourne.

David used threads of many textures to weave his rich tapestry of talks. As one, nearly eighty year old friend remarked after his visit to Auckland, – “what a talented man. I knew he could write music, but he can play and sing and tell stories and make us laugh – I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in my life. And he taught us so much.”
Five minutes after beginning his presentation in Auckland, David had 150 people singing in three parts about “the blessed gospel which shall be mine.” And then led us beautifully into prayer.

In the first of his three presentations in Auckland, David identified six principles of liturgy. Those six principles, mingled with a little of my own reflection, follow below.

…. ‘how do we keep the experience of Jesus strong in our communities and in our lives?’

The first principle: 

Liturgy is a celebration of faith and stands on middle ground between experience and catechesis. As David rightly pointed out, we don’t know much about Jesus; the Gospels don’t provide a full biography. But the people who walked with him, the people in the first Christian communities had an experience of him. Years stretched out from the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection and people pondered his promise to return. As the wait continued, the problem they faced was, ‘how do we keep the experience of Jesus strong in our communities and in our lives?’

The answer of course, was to celebrate a ritual, as we do for birthdays or anniversaries – to keep the experience strong in our lives. The ritual they celebrated was the ritual Jesus gave them on the night of the Passover; “take and eat, this is my body broken for you.” Liturgy was a response to experience. It “was never seen as how you got to know what Christ was– it was how you celebrated the Christ you already knew.” Necessarily, catechesis followed. While the liturgy remembered the experience, catechesis was the lifelong learning that sought to understand what the experience meant.

With this understanding in mind, it is easier for us to see that it is not possible to talk about the theme of any given Mass. That every Mass we ever celebrate always has the same theme. The ‘theme’ of every Mass is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus – the Paschal mystery.

Today, the experience people bring with them to Sunday Mass varies greatly. People attend for a great many reasons and not all will have had a conversion experience in their lives, not all will have encountered Jesus. Parish musicians, as leaders of sung prayer, are naturally challenged by this dilemma. How do we achieve the goal of full participation when people are present for a vast variety of reasons?

The second principle: 

Liturgy is an action of the church. “It is about we, not me.” While personal prayer and private devotion are both important they are not what the liturgy requires of us. At Mass “we surrender our private devotion to the community, to the Body of Christ.” The primary minister of the liturgy is the baptized, gathered assembly. This is at the centre of God’s covenant with us. God says, I will be your God and you will be my people and not, as Haas points out “your series of individual personal relationships.” It is a cause for concern, perhaps even lamentation, that understanding on this point is still so limited. Haas reflected on times he had been asked on street corners if he had a personal relationship with Jesus. His thinking response is “we have a personal relationship with Jesus when we see Christ in one another.”

… it is essential that people are then well formed and well prepared to take up their role in liturgy.

The third principle:  

Liturgy requires a community of ministers. Liturgy does not take place in a void. Rather, liturgy arises from the midst of a community. Indeed, “liturgy springs forth from the gifts of the community.” Those gifts need to be encouraged and drawn out but it is essential that people are then well formed and well prepared to take up their role in liturgy. The various ministers need ongoing formation to understand the function and importance of their role as a part of the whole.

Once well trained, the ministers will recognize that good liturgy takes work, and that good liturgy is always beautiful liturgy. Liturgy must always be as beautiful as we can make it, for when it is beautiful, when we have laid the groundwork carefully, the Holy Spirit finds the entrance. God is found in beauty. 

The fourth principle:

Liturgy is ritual prayer. We have street language. We have office language. We may even have home or beach or school language. But we also have ritual language and it is different. In the liturgy, we don’t say “‘sup’ bro?’’ we do say “the Lord be with you.”  We don’t say “is everything ok?” we say “peace be with you.”

We use symbols. Symbols have layers of meaning. They are purposefully ambiguous. It is this layering of meaning, this ambiguity which leads us to wonder and to prayer. Short, confident explanations come as abrupt interruptions on the pathway to wonder. Perhaps in this regard we could be like Jesus and follow a question with a question - keep the wonder alive!

To be truly potent, symbols need to be lavish. It is challenging to believe that one is plunged into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus when a teaspoon of water is poured over the head of the one being baptized. Lavish symbols lead to a more potent experience, a more prayerful encounter, a more clarion response to the call to turn once again and live in the light. Our conversion is never finished.

Above: David Haas workshop 2017.

The fifth principle:

Music in the liturgy is ritual language. Words have more power when they are sung. Music is not an optional extra – music is an integral part of the liturgy, and every musician is aware of the power of music to move the heart.

“We don’t sing at the liturgy. We sing the liturgy.” Each piece of music used in the liturgy has a place and a function. The entrance hymn fosters the unity of the community gathered. The Gospel Acclamation announces the Gospel. The Holy, Holy allows us to join our voices with the saints and angels. Understanding the purpose of each piece of music makes us conscious of the effectiveness and appropriateness of our decisions.

The purpose of liturgy … is not liturgy.

 
The sixth principle:

The purpose of liturgy is not liturgy. To understand this, take a glimpse at that song we sing at the end of Mass, sometimes called the ‘closing’ song. Mass does not have a closing song, it is not mentioned in the missal. The liturgy is not supposed to feel finished. We are supposed to feel, if we are supposed to feel anything, – sent. David mentioned one parish he knew of which did not talk about Mass. They talked instead about the “sending ritual.” The purpose of the liturgy is eta missae est – being sent!

David chided us mildly when he said “it seems really prevalent here, that you have three or four Masses a weekend and they’re led by different groups, who play different Mass settings, have different music and use different repertoires.” He added that sometimes, in his experience within a parish, people from one music group or choir don’t even want to talk to people from a different music group or choir. People can too easily develop the idea that this is “their” Mass. This is a challenge for us. We are on the road to unity and anything that appears divisive, separatist or private is an obstacle. Does this sound like your parish? Maybe a combined Christmas BBQ for all involved in music might be a first step toward building that earnestly desired unity.

Finally, he suggests, we should not dwell too long on our success in preparing and carrying out good, successful or beautiful liturgies. The question that should remain with us is, “are we better Christians? Are we helping to show people who Jesus is?”

There is much that can be said about his brief visit here. He will be remembered for his warmth and his wit, his ability to mix the serious with the hilarious, his ability to pepper his talk with relevant personal stories and experiences, but perhaps most especially for his ability to speak with deep passion, conviction, knowledge and love about the liturgy and leave us with a desire to know more, do more and be more.

Thank you David Haas for your visit. Thank you for dropping by on your return to Minnesota. Thank you for the wave of inspiration, enthusiasm and desire your visit has generated.

Gospel Reading | Friday 2nd February 2018

+ A reading from the holy gospel according to St. Luke.

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
Band you yourself a sword will pierceB
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

The gospel of the Lord.

On the Liturgy of the Word - Pope Francis

The Holy Father’s Catechesis 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
We continue today with the catecheses on the Mass. After having reflected on the rites of introduction of the Mass, we now consider the Liturgy of the Word, which is a constitutive part because, in fact, we gather to listen to what God has done and still intends to do for us. It’s an experience that happens “directly” and not by having heard, because “when Sacred Scripture is read in Church, God Himself speaks to His people and Christ, present in the Word, proclaims the Gospel” (Ordinamento Generale del Messale Romano, 29; Cf. Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7; 33). And how often, while the Word of God is read, one comments: “Look at him . . . , look at her . . . , look at the hat she is wearing: It’s ridiculous . . . “And they begin to make comments. Isn’t that true? Should comments be made while the Word of God is being read?  [They respond: “No!]. No, because if you gossip with people you don’t listen to the Word of God. When the Word of God is read in the Bible  — the First Reading, the Second, the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel – we must listen, open our heart, because it’s God Himself who is speaking to us,  and we must not think of other things or talk about other things. Understood? . . . I will explain to you what happens in this Liturgy of the Word.

The pages of the Bible cease to be a writing to become living word pronounced by God. It’s God that, through the person that reads, speaks to us and questions us, who listen with faith. The Spirit “who has spoken through the prophets” (Creed) and has inspired the sacred authors, acts so that “that the Word of God truly operates in hearts what He makes resound in ears” (Lectionary, Introd., 9). However, to listen to the Word of God it’s necessary to have an open heart to receive the word in the heart. God speaks and we listen to Him, to then put into practice what we have heard. It’s very important to listen. Sometimes, perhaps, we don’t understand well because there are some Readings that are a bit difficult. However, God speaks the same to us in another way. [It’s necessary to be] in silence and to listen to the Word of God. Don’t forget this. At Mass, when the Readings begin, we listen to the Word of God.

We need to listen to Him! It is, in fact, a question of life, as the incisive expression well reminds that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4) — the life that the Word of God gives us. In this connection, we speak of the Liturgy of the Word as the “table” that the Lord prepares to feed our spiritual life. That of the Liturgy is an abundant table, which draws widely from the treasures of the Bible (Cf. SC , 51) be it of the Old or of the New Testament, because in them the Church proclaims the one and the same mystery of Christ (Cf. Lectionary, Introd., 5). We think of the richness of the biblical Readings offered by three Sunday cycles that, in the light of the Synoptic Gospels, accompany us in the course of the Liturgical Year: a great richness. I wish to recall here the importance of the Responsorial Psalm, whose function is to foster meditation on all that was heard in the Reading that preceded it. It’s good that the Psalm is enhanced with the song, at least in the refrain (Cf. OGMR, 61; Lectionary, Introd., 19-22).

The liturgical proclamation of the same Readings, with the songs deduced from Sacred Scripture, expresses and fosters ecclesial communion, accompanying the path of each and all. One understands, therefore, why subjective choices, such as the omission of Readings or their substitution with non-biblical texts, are prohibited. I’ve heard that some, if there is news, read the newspaper, because it’s the news of the day. No! The Word of God is the Word of God! We can read the newspaper later, but there, the Word of God is read. It’s the Lord who speaks to us. To substitute that Word with other things, impoverishes and compromises the dialogue between God and His people in prayer. On the contrary, [required is] the dignity of the pulpit and the use of the Lectionary,[1] the availability of good readers and psalmists. However, it’s necessary to find good readers! – those that are able to read, not those that read [mangling the words] and nothing is understood. It’s so – good readers <are needed>. They must prepare themselves and try before the Mass to read well. And this creates a receptive atmosphere of silence [2].

Above: Monsignor Bernard Kiely

We know that the Lord’s word is an indispensable aid not to get lost, as the Psalmist well recognizes that, addressing the Lord, confesses: “Thy word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). How can we face our earthly pilgrimage, with its toils and trials, without being regularly fed and illumined by the Word of God that resounds in the Liturgy?

It’s certainly not enough to listen with the ears, without receiving in the heart the seed of the divine Word, enabling it to bear fruit. Let us remember the parable of the sower and the different results according to the different types of soil (Cf. Mark 4:14-20). The action of the Spirit, which renders the response effective, is in need of hearts that allow themselves to be worked and cultivated, so that what is heard at Mass passes in daily life, in keeping with the Apostle James’ admonition: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). The Word of God makes a path within us. We hear it with the ears and it passes to the heart. It doesn’t stay in the ears; it must go to the heart, and from the heart it passes to the hands, to good works. This is the course that the Word of God follows: from the ears to the heart to the hands. Let us learn these things. Thank you!

[1] Criteria and ordering of the Readings of the Mass in the Roman Rite are described in the Introduction to the Lectionary.

[2] “The Liturgy of the Word must be celebrated in a way to foster meditation. Therefore, all forms of haste that impede recollection must be avoided. Opportune in it also are brief moments of silence, adapted to the gathered assembly, through which, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God is heard in the heart and the response is prepared with prayer” (OGMR, 56).

Gospel Reading | February 1st 2018

Gospel Reading Thursday 1st February 2018

+ A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
"Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them."
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The gospel of the Lord.