My 2 weeks is up!
Two years ago today we moved to Holy Cross as an interim arrangement. Sr Joan went home to Ireland accompanied by Sr Karen who remained in Dublin to study. I was to stay two weeks and then go to Vietnam but Covid 19 changed that plan so I have been blessed to be part of the community at Holy Cross all this time.

Karen returned in Sept having completed a Master’s in Spirituality. She is now in ministry at Sacred Heart Mission at St Kilda. It is a considerable journey from here so we have accepted an invitation to move into the Parish house at Elwood which has been vacant for some time! We will move on Sunday 6th. However it is not goodbye as we will still have connections with Holy Cross.

GOD and RELIGION….Part 3
The prophet Isaiah brought a refinement to how God could be experienced. He had a vision while praying in the Temple, that amid the incense and blood of sacrificed animals, he ‘saw’ God sitting on a throne wrapped in a cloud, expressing God’s ‘otherness’. He heard the chanting of ‘Holy, Holy’. Which meant ‘other’ or ‘separate’. There was a huge gulf between God and humans. Isaiah became aware that this God, YHWH was no longer a god of war, nor a tribal deity.

GOD and RELIGION….Part 2
The ‘Enuma Elish’ is a lengthy Babylonian creation story. A written version dating to the 12th century BCE was found in Nineveh about two hundred and fifty kilometres north of Babylon. Nineveh had been the capital of Assyrian. Babylon no longer exists, but at that time it was about eighty-five kilometres south of modern-day Bagdad, in Iraq.

Famous stories such as the ‘Fall of Man’ and the ‘Great Flood’ were originally written down in Sumer. They were then translated and modified later in Babylon, and reworked by the Assyrians before they were used by the Hebrew scribes for the versions which appear in the Bible. Scholars have been able to establish that the Genesis account borrowed from this myth and made significant changes to it. Both Genesis and Enuma Elsih are religious texts which detail and celebrate cultural origins. Enuma Elish recounts the origin and founding of Babylon under the leadership of the god Marduk: Genesis describes the origin and founding of the Jewish people under the guidance of the Lord (Elohim in Genesis 1 or Yhwh in Genesis 2).

"Come Away Day: Monday 21 February (9.30am-2pm)
The theme of our first Come Away Day of the year is "A promise of newness" which is timely, as we continue to navigate what the future looks like, whilst living with the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus. It is a government requirement that participation be restricted to those who are fully vaccinated and a mask is required for the indoor sessions. A package of materials used on the day will be provided to any interested person, regardless of their vaccination status. For further details, please contact Frank Burke on burke.frank942@yahoo.com.au

This week the Provincial Council met face-to-face for the first time since November, 2019. Tom McDonough Provincial), Denis Travers, Brendan Connell, Chris Monaghan and myself, met from Monday to Thursday at Holy Cross. Provincial Secretary, Fr Giltus Matthias was also here and generously cooked some delicious meals for us. The Council has met many times using Zoom, so it was a welcome change to have protracted time for face-to-face communication. We still did use Zoom to have a prolonged session with Symon Scott, our business manager, and another session with Joachim our brother who is serving as General of the Passionists. We learned from Joachim that after ten days isolation with COVID, he was still positive, so he spent another week in isolation. This was how he spent the major part of his holiday!

For those who could be present last Sunday, Pastor spoke gently (as he always does) about his gratitude for the very warm welcome he received from ‘everyone at Holy Cross’. He spoke of how ‘at home’ he has felt.

When he first came to Melbourne, Pastor was appointed to our Endeavour Hills community and the parish where he was much loved. He undertook a two year programme in spiritual direction and became qualified to teach others.
This was always seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement between his Vice-Province and our Province. We were able to fund his learning which he could not do in Tanzanaia and we benefited from his presence ad his ministry.

Creation 20: Life on earth 5 (Humans)

The oldest known civilization was established in Sumer in Southern Iraq, beginning around 5300 BCE. King Sargon of Akkad united the warring Sumerian cities to create the Akkadian empire around 2300 BCE. Skilled agricultural methods and the storage of food had led to a great population increase so that by 4000 BCE Sumer had taken a leadership role in the transformation to urban culture by the creation of a dozen city states, each with its own temple, dedicated to a god or goddess, with its own priest protector or king. It is estimated that ninety percent of the population lived in these cities.

Creation 19: Life on earth 4: Humans (continued)

Science has helped us learn that there have been significant climatic changes, including ice covering and then retreating across the globe through several eras. It is suggested that skin colour changed because pigment was required in the colder European climates, whereas it was not needed in the hotter climates. In the same way, it is possible that facial adaptations occurred such as the smaller chubby Asian nose and heavy eyelids, responded to breathing and eyesight needs in times of glaciation.

The Northern Hemisphere suffered an extensive ice age beginning about one hundred and twenty thousand years ago. It began to recede eighteen thousand years ago, and while glaciation ended just twelve thousand five hundred years ago, we are technically still living at the end of this ice age.

Sunday feast: The Baptism of Jesus
In the Eastern church, the birth of Jesus, the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus are celebrated as one feast. This is to show the continuity between Jesus entering the world in Bethlehem, being recognized by all peoples through the Magi as the Messiah (Christ) and the initiation of Jesus into his ministry by being baptised by John in the Jordan river.

Warm greetings and less reading this week!