Unworthy thoughts

The tragedy of central Italy continues to unfold in our news bulletins.  One report today notes that the town of Amatrice (or maybe the commune), population 2000, had 100 churches, all of which have been destroyed. It looks like the entire town will be bulldozed flat to allow rebuilding.  My unworthy thought is that they will save quite a lot of money church-wise, as one good church should be more than enough for such a small population.  It's like a take on the good shepherd story -- abandon the 99 in favour of the one.

This picture also struck me as something of a parable or symbol of today's Church, or even of Christianity.  Crumbling and in ruins, but still visible, still a sign of hope and pointing to a reality we must work towards.

The blame game

Whenever something happens that we don't like or are unprepared for, we can expect the finger of blame to be quickly pointed.

Lose an election, and it is never a simple expression of people's democratic rights:  the other side played dirty or some on one's own side undermined an otherwise "certain to win" campaign.  In sport, it's usually the referee to blame (check out last night's Bledisloe Cup loss by the Wallabies).  Fail to gain a coveted job, and favouritism is seen at work.  Suffer a natural disaster, and if God isn't to blame, then local and national authorities certainly are.

A case in point: the recent disastrous earthquakes in central Italy.  These centuries old villages perched precariously atop Appenine hills crumbled as the African tectonic plate pushed under the Eurasian, stretching the earth's surface to breaking point.  Way back then nobody knew about tectonic plates.  Building on the hilltops made eminent sense:  safe from floods and easier to defend against invaders.  Easy now to say that Japanese style building codes would have avoided loss of life and such destruction.  Back in the 13th century the good burghers of Amatrice knew nothing of steel and concrete.

Of course there is a proper place for blame.  Humans are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their choices and actions.  Given today's knowledge and resources, should ancient villages be getting disaster-proofed?  Should we still be settling folk on flood plains, even in cities like Brisbane?  Should we be giving greater effort to disease eradication ?  And so the questions multiply.

But the blame game, which seems to be built into our human psyche, isn't about such sensible considerations.  It's about a quick and easy shirking of our own responsibility and finding a convenient scapegoat.  Yes:  the referee is an easy fall guy for the failures of 15 sweaty athletes to carry the ball across the line.

What you see ...

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, popularly known as the Black Madonna.  She is the patron saint of Poland.

At the shrine at Jasna Gora, all one sees of the actual painting are the faces of the Madonna and Child.  All else is hidden by a jewelled overlay or "coronation", the present one being a gift of Pope St John Paul II.  So what you see is very little of the original picture.

But "original picture" it is not.

Legend says that St Luke painted the 1.3 metre image on the table top in the home of the Holy Family, and that Mary told him the life story of Jesus while he painted, which he later recorded in his gospel.  It is claimed that Constantine recovered the image in Jerusalem and took it to Constantinople where it frightened away Saracen invaders.

What we do know as historical fact is that the image was in Czestochowa (Poland) when in 1430 robbers ransacked the church housing it.  The image was badly damaged and repair efforts failed.  So the entire original paintwork was scraped off and a new image painted onto the original boards.  And we don't even get to see that as it was painted!  Soot from votive candles over the centuries have blackened the image, giving it it's popular name, the Black Madonna.

So what we see is not exactly what we think we are getting.  In matters religious it pays to check out what we are being asked to believe or do.  The truth may lay somewhat hidden behind overlays of misinterpretation and even misrepresentation.

And in this age of mass media and social media it is becoming increasingly difficult to know just where the truth lies in so much of what we see reported.

Putting things in perspective

Big news today is that scientists have discovered a new earth-like planet outside our solar system that is a mere 4 light years away.  This makes it easily our nearest planetary neighbour beyond Pluto (or maybe the mysterious Planet 9 if it exists!).

Sounds close?  4 light years is about 40 trillion kilometres away.  Using our most sophisticated space vehicles today it would take 137000 years to travel to this "closest neighbour" named Proxima b.  (latin word proxima means 'close')  Close indeed!

To put things in perspective, this planet revolves around a dying sun so faint we cannot see it with the naked eye.  The planet cannot be "seen";  it is known only through radio telescopic readings that can only now be detected with the latest equipment.

One can only continue to be in awe of the enormity of the created universe we are a part of.  How insignificant we are in the scale of things!  And yet theologians suggest that it is all there for us, to be our home and evidence of God's power and glory.  You can't do better than Psalm 8 on this:

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—

the moon and the stars you set in place—

what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

Maybe we need to look into the night sky a little more often and lift our minds above the petty ambitions and self-importance that mires our world in war and oppression to get things in proper perspective.

True and false

An SOS from my sister the other day.  Her work laptop had lost all its document folders and email program.  Was it a virus; was it recoverable?

After much frustrating detective work and considerable Googling, we discovered that somehow Windows 10 had created an alternative profile using my sister's details.  When she started her laptop, this false profile took possession and hid her precious documents and emails from her. All appeared lost!  Restoring her true profile was no simple matter.  Tweaks to the registry and reversing settings involved.  But at last her "real self" was back in possession, and the "lost" documents were once again accessible.

Which got me thinking about how it can be in life too.  Sometimes our real self can be hijacked by a false self.  It's the stuff of many a movie and novel.  A loving father and husband lets lust hijack his marriage in favour of an affair with his secretary.  An employee lets greed turn her into an embezzler. A believer lets doubt destroy his fidelity and hope. Less dramatically, I can let anger or jealousy or pride or laziness lead me away from my true path in life.  When this happens our best qualities of self are hidden and no longer available.

Getting out true self back in control is often not an easy task. It's not just a matter of a few keystrokes and all is OK again.  There is need for serious self-searching to discover what went wrong, and then the tricky process of reversing it all and removing the false self from control.  It is only when our true profile is at work that we can live authentically and allow our many gifts and strengths bear fruit.

Facing up to death

Truman is a touching but light-hearted movie about dealing with death.  Tomás returns to Madrid to re-unite with Juliàn, his best friend from student days who is now dying of cancer. Both struggle to honestly confront the approaching reality, especially as it impacts on others close to Juliàn.  There are insightful moments when Juliàn discovers unexpected love from some, and his need to offer apologies to others.  Dying isn't just about bodily collapse, but more importantly about relationships and how we tend them as we must say inevitable goodbyes.  This movie suggests that dying is really more about others than about ourselves, quite a reversal of the usual focus.

There are moments of revelation.  Like at the undertaker's when Juliàn is shocked to discover that his ashes will fit into such a small urn.  As if to ask, "Is that all there is to me?"

Whilst the movie does explore Juliàn's parting relationships with his son, his ex-wife, his close friends and his theatrical colleagues, it is symbolically his care for his closest companion, the bullmastiff Truman, that most tellingly expresses the message of this fine film.  Nothing counts more than true friendship, which in the end draws out the best in us, and it is that which supports us.

Olympic gold?

Our media seem to focus on medal tallies and gold.  It is as if the sole purpose of the Games is to win as many gold medals as possible.  Anything less is counted as failure.

This doesn't gel with the ideals of the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. His basic premise was: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."

Certainly striving for gold can be a great motivation to produce one's best effort.  

But many participants enter their event knowing full well that they have no hope of standing on the winner's podium. An example in today's news, an Ethiopian swimmer who came in half a pool-length behind the winner in the 100 metres swim.  The crowd cheered him as mightily as they did the winner. He gave of his best and deserved to have that honoured.

In life, where would we be if we only attempted what we were certain would be a winner.  Success in living comes not from comparison with others, but with the measure of our own goals and efforts.  Seeming failures can turn out to be the greatest achievers.  Think only of Jesus hanging on the cross!

So, in life I must give everything worthwhile a go, give of my best, and be happy that I did, regardless of the result.

Looking in the mirror

Today I was amused to watch a young peewee hopping around on the wing-mirror of a car, desperately trying to get in contact with that "other" peewee it could see, but which kept disappearing as it moved about.  Then it would fly to another car chasing its own image, but with no reply to its amorous cries.

Which made me think about some human behaviour which bears great similarity.  There are times we think we are relating to other people, truly seeing and understanding them and their situation.  But in fact we are projecting our own views on them, seeing ourselves in a mirror rather than the other in reality.  Real dialogue is impossible, and our encounter becomes  as meaningless as that of the peewee on the car mirror.

I guess the moral might be, that if what we see and hear is too much like ourselves it is time to check for the mirror.

Getting in touch

I doubt that any child really believes that milk comes from a carton, but city dwellers do find it difficult to be in touch with the earthiness of our food supply.

Hence, I suspect, the popularity of the weekend markets.  But really, how successful are they in bridging the gap between urban life and rural production?

Let me contrast two Sunday markets I am familiar with.  The one is tucked into a car park, and provides small stalls where farmers from the hinterland come to sell their produce.  One stall just avocados, another apples, yet another spuds and onions.  What they have actually grown themselves. It is fun to chat with the stall holders and learn a little about their life and struggles with weather and pests.

The other market is sited in a spacious paved area with live entertainment, plenty of coffee stalls and a bigger range of product (probably sourced at the Rocklea Markets). Really this is little more than an open air shopping arcade, pretending to be a taste of the rural.  One senses that it is far more commercial in its approach.

Both serve their purpose of providing income to weekend entrepreneurs. But I know which one I feel to be more "genuine" as a farmers' market.

Which makes me reflect on other ways in which we try to "be in touch" with a reality that is not part of our daily life.  Does a $25 donation to Vinnies really put me in touch with the struggles of the homeless or battered mother? Does buying Fair-trade coffee really help exploited growers in South America?  Does using E10 petrol really reduce climate change?  I can't become cynical, and surely every little helps.  But I do need to be careful not to kid myself about how much in touch I have managed to become.

Two sides

There are two sides to every coin.  Even if we look at only one, the other is nonetheless there!

I was reminded of this forcibly today.  This morning I watched in HD colour the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.  This evening I watched in haunting black and white filming the Amazon-based movie Embrace of the Serpent.

The colourful events in Rio portray a vibrant culture, using the latest technology to its best effect to entertain and to express a modern society.  Nothing seems impossible in this world where athletes compete to extend the boundaries of human endeavour.

The reverse side of the coin couldn't be more contrasting.  Separated by a generation, two western ethnologists team with the same shaman, the last of his people, in search of a rare medicinal plant in the jungle.  But on the way we visit the destruction of a people and their culture by white rubber plantationists and christian missionaries.

So often it seems that progress comes at the expense of others lives and the loss of much that is precious.  It takes little to think of plenty of modern-day examples.  Cheap fashion clothing and footwear from sweat shops and child labour.  Plentiful electricity from polluting coal generating plants.  24 hour convenience stores and petrol stations manned by underpaid students and immigrants.

It is so easy to just look at the one side of the coin .. maybe one needs to set aside time to turn the coin over and take account of the flip side too.

And a later thought ...
Equally, when we view the dark side of life in sickness or failure or loss, the reverse side might open us to hope and faith and peace!

A thoughtless shopper

Saw a frightening piece of research the other day about plastic waste that is contaminating our oceans and other waterways.  Over 5 trillion pieces of plastic are circulating in our oceans, not to mentions immeasurable amounts of micro-fibres being absorbed by sea life.  Clean up Australia Day each year draws attention to the trash we leave behind in our creeks, rivers and along our highways.  And the state of the ocean where our Olympians will compete in sailing and canoeing at Rio is another wake up call.

Cleaning up Olympic venue at Rio

And of course we can't blame this on some convenient natural phenomenon like climate change. This is, purely and simply, uncaring human activity.

Now, I have five of those green re-usable shopping bags at home or in the car.  Yet I have to confess, out of laziness or thoughtlessness, I rarely use them.  So much easier to wander around hands-free and grab the free single-use plastic bags at the checkout. They end up in landfill, I guess, where maybe they help contaminate underground water?

Plastic packaging is another part of the problem about which we as individuals seem to be able to do less.  Glass bottles that can be recycled are pretty rare.  And just about every food item comes pre-packed in plastic of one sort or another.  Hopefully the scientists and manufacturers are seriously looking to bio-degradable materials these days?

This problem of plastic contamination is one we CAN solve, since it is purely a human activity.  But that depends on each person doing their bit. So I best shake the dust off my green re-usable and start toting them with me as I go grocery shopping.

Census sense

August 9 is Census Night in Australia.  Every five years the ABS takes a snapshot of the nation's population, capturing details of their age, ethnic background, employment, education, housing, transport use and even religion.

The religious question always stirs controversy.  It is the only question on the census form that is voluntary.  Those reporting "no religion" have been on the increase, being the second largest group after Catholics in the 2011 census.  This time around, the option to choose "no religion" has been put at the top of the list -- leading most commentators to expect a significant drop in the numbers claiming affiliation with any organised religion.

Really that won't be telling us anything new.  We all know that active participation in religious practice has fallen to all time lows, only a fraction of those who name themselves as belonging.  The numbers game isn't important in itself.

But census data does have practical uses.  Planning for new schools, parishes, hospitals and community services by church groups is greatly assisted when accurate demographic data is available.  Where a large nominally Catholic child population is located we can reasonably expect demand for church schooling, whatever of the minimal number attending Sunday Mass.  And so it goes.  The demographic data available to our church planners after this census will probably be much less useful than in the past, and will call for new skills of interpretation and even crystal ball gazing.

No doubt the secularists will rejoice to proclaim the approaching death of religion in our country.  But make no mistake, we still rely on the religious few to provide care for the many.  Take away all our church schools, hospitals, nursing homes and community services such as the Salvos and Vinnies and Lifeline, and where would we all be?