Preach it brother! Ray Galea or Benedict IX?
One thing that really impresses me about WYD is how the Catholic Church which many would describe as marginalized and under constant attack in Sydney, can, with the help of Catholics from around the world, stand up and conduct it's self in such a public way and try to involve the whole city.
The number of people walking through St Andrew's Cathedral were down a bit on the large numbers from the last two days, but the 200 that turned up for Ray Galea's talk was encouraging. Ray preached on Psalm 78 " Can you experience God through your forefathers? Certainly!
You can read more about this message on our certainty.org website
A group of about 30 Philipino Catholics turned up for the talk including a young man called Dexter who I had met earlier in the morning.
Dexter has a severe disability which has resulted in him having very small arms and legs. He lives in his own flat and works part time as a government contractor. He has little financial security and the activities of daily life are tough for him. We talked for about half an hour, I asked him what he was most looking forward to this week, he said, "A word from the Pope to encourage me to go on living."
I also asked him if he was certain where he would spend eternity, he said, "If I am good, if I try not to sin, I think I will be O.K. Sin is the biggest problem."
We talked for a while longer and then he asked me for a word of encouragement. I had the privilege of sharing the good news that if he trusted Jesus he could be certain where he will be spending eternity even if he still struggled with sin. He came back for the talk with his 30 friends and asked when the other talks were on.
During Ray's talk I sat next to a Catholic lady who turns 86 on Saturday " Happy Birthday Josephine if you are reading this!
Her daughter, a Baptist, brought her to hear Ray because she is Maltese. Josephine attends Mass daily, prays several times every day, is generous to the poor and scrupulous in her behaviour. She wanted me to say that she was very proud of the way Sydney has looked after the pilgrims, being so clean, and the way the public transport system was working so well. She she also told, "I am afraid. Sin is such a problem and if I don't deal with it and I die, I'm not sure." We talked for a long time about just trusting Jesus, even with her sin. She said she would. We prayed.
Finally I got down to Bangaroo to see the Pope arrive. There were less people than on Tuesday and the atmosphere was more subdued. I was standing next to a young man who was in the early years of studying to be a priest. He was studying to be a diocesan priest, which meant that he wouldn't belong to a particular religious order " like the Franciscans, Jesuits or Augustinians. Religious orders are administratively and financially distinct from the local churches and usually are founded by a saint or patron. Some orders are hundreds of years old. I asked him about how many men were ordained priests in Australia each year " he said about 20 he thought, though the numbers have doubled in the last 10 years.
I asked him about his studies, he said "there are four pillars in my formation, Academic, Vocational, Pastoral and Spiritual which takes seven years. The academic part takes 10-12 semesters consisting of; Scriptures (but not in first year), Philosophy, Theology, Cannon Law, Church History, Ethics, Sacraments, and some others courses. He didn't say much about the vocational training. The Pastoral training consisted in placements in Primary and Secondary schools, Aboriginal and Youth Ministry, University and Hospital Chaplaincy and finally Parish ministry. Finally he talked about his spiritual formation which he thought was most important. Five times daily he prays and reads through a series of liturgies which include several (about 10) extracts from the psalms, a number of short (a couple of verses) Bible readings, a longer Bible reading (about a chapter) and a chapter from the writings of one of the church fathers, as well as prayers to Mary and an examination of conscience lead by an older priest. He does this every day and on Sundays he spends an hour adoring a vessel containing the bread he believes to be the body of Jesus. There are also additional times of meditation and he confesses his sins to a priest at least once a month.
I asked him what he was most looking forward to this week, he said, he was involved in singing a chant with a group of people during the consecration of the new altar at St Mary's Cathedral on Saturday. I asked him about whether he was certain he was going to heaven, he said, "If I die right now " yes. I haven't done anything too serious, Christ is merciful and I have tried the best I can. In the end I've just got to trust God. There is no use fearing judgment because if you are afraid it is because you are doing something wrong and you should just stop doing it. My job is to love God, the rest is up to Him." I shared with him that I was certain of going to heaven because Jesus death has dealt completely with my sin." He said, "as far as what you've said " I wouldn't disagree." I pointed out that the basis of his assurance was mainly what he did. We talked some more " it was a bit uncomfortable.
Pope Benedict arrived at Bangaroo and was welcomed by George Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Phillip Wilson from Adelaide. There was a short Bible reading, Matthew 20:25-8 and then he spoke.
I found him a bit difficult to hear and understand due to his accent and the sound system. In his homily he began at Acts 1 and gave a history of the growth of the Church from Jerusalem to Australia. Notably he didn't mention the first [Anglican] ministers Richard Johnson or Samuel Marsden, just the first Catholic priests that "brought the Gospel to Australia for the first time". He talked about how good God's creation is, and how bad sin can be. He talked about secularism and humanism and said Christ offered more.
He then spoke about Baptism and said, "On the day of your Baptism you received God, you were adopted, incorporated into Christ, became a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit and became a new creation."
He emphasized the dignity of human life and exhorted us to honour that by how we behave.
As I said it was difficult to hear but I think his logic went " God created the world good " we sin " with the help of the sacrament of Baptism we can and should restore God's good world. Jesus becoming human shows us how important humanity is. It didn't sound like he was saying Jesus has taken a fallen creation and redeemed it as the beginning of a new creation, rather, we were to work with God's help at fixing the old one up. As I said it was difficult to hear and I would be happy to be shown I was wrong. I couldn't find a transcript of the talk to check.
