2021. február 23., kedd

Readings for Lent - Old and New 5

1.The Call of Jesus Our Friend 

To discern our personal vocation, we have to realise that it is a calling from a friend, who is Jesus. When we give something to our friends, we give them the best we have. It will not necessarily be what is most expensive or hard to obtain, but what we know will make them happy. Friends are so sensitive to this that they can already imagine the smile on their friend's face when he or she opens that gift. This sort of discernment that takes place among friends is what I suggest you to take as a model for trying to discover God's will for your lives. 

 

I want you to know that, when the Lord thinks of each of you and what he wants to give you, he sees you as his close friend. And if the plans to grant you a grace, a charism that will help you live to the full and become someone who benefits others, someone who leaves a mark in life, it will surely be a gift that will bring you more joy and excitement than anything else in this world. Not because that gift will be rare or extraordinary, but because it will perfectly fit you. It will be a perfect fit for your entire life. (From Pope Francis' letter to young people, Christ Is Alive, art.287-288) 

 

2. Expulsion From Paradise 

 

Let me ponder on Adam and Eve's fall into sin, how they covered their nakedness with fig-leaves when they saw that they were naked. How to this day, all repented sinners, when they have lost virtue, feel exposed and cover their nakedness with some sort of lie or fantasy. (Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, Prolouge, 3 December)




2021. február 19., péntek

Readings for Lent - 'Old and New' 3

1. Prayer for discernment 

A particular form of discernment involves the effort to discover our vocation. Since it is a very personal decision that others cannot make for us, it requires a certain degree of solitude and silence. The Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, through others and at every moment. Yet we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us better to perceive God's language, to interpret the real meaning of the inspirations we believe we have received, to calm our anxieties and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light. 

Yet this silence does not make us close in ourselves. We must remember that prayerful discernment has to be born of an openness to listening – to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways. Only if we re prepared to listen, do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient ideas… In this way, we become truly open to accepting a call that can shatter our security, but leads us to a better life. It is not enough that everything be calm and peaceful. God may be offering us something more, but in our comfortable inadvertence, we do not recognise it. (From Pope Francis' letter to young people, Christ Is Alive, art.283,284.) 

 

2. Purpose and Discernment 

'…The person who makes a journey without purpose, as the Fathers say, labours in vain. … What aim then ought we to have when we come to meet one another? First of all, love, for it is said, "When you see your brother or sister, you see the Lord, your God." Go in search of the fear of God, but with discernment, so that you go to meet one another as friends, each one bowing his head before the other, as we say each one humbling himself before God and before his brother, and cutting off his own will for the sake of his brother.' (St Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses.) 

 

 


2021. február 18., csütörtök

Readings for Lent: 'Old and New' 2


1. Formation of Conscience 

Here we see the importance of the formation of conscience, which allows discernment to grow in depth and in fidelity to God: forming our conscience is the work of a lifetime, in which we learn to cultivate the very sentiments of Jesus Christ, adopting the criteria behind his choices and the intentions behind his actions (Cf. Phil 2:5) 

 

In this process of formation, we let ourselves be transformed by Christ, even as we develop the habit of doing good, which also is part of our examination of conscience. We do not simply identify sins, but also recognise God's work in our daily lives, in the events of our personal history and the world around us, and in the witness of all those men and women who have gone before us or accompany us with their wisdom. This helps us to grow in the virtue of prudence and to give an overall direction to our life through concrete choices, in the serene awareness of both our gifts and our limitations. (From Pope Francis' letter to young people, Christ Is Alive, articles281-282) 

 

2. A penitential prayer from the Orthodox Tradition 

 

Attend, O heaven, and I shall speak; give ear, O earth, to the voice of one who repents before God and sings His praise. Look upon me, God my Saviour, with Your merciful eye, and accept my fervent confession. More than all men have I sinned; I alone have sinned against You. But as God take pity on Your creation, o Saviour. With my lustful desires I have formed within myself the deformity of the passions and disfigured the beauty of my mind. I am surrounded by the storm of sin, O compassionate Lord. But stretch out Your hand to me, as once You have to Peter (Matthew 14:31). I have stained the garment of my flesh, O Saviour, and defiled that which was made in Your image and likeness. With the lusts of passion I have darkened the beauty of my soul, and turned my whole mind entirely into dust. I have torn the first garment that the Creator wove for me in the beginning, and now I lie naked. (From Great Compline. Monday in the First Week. The Lenten Triodion.) 


2021. február 17., szerda

Egy legenda feltámadása: Ippolit Matvejevics zenekar

 
Nagylemez és memo anyag laza 30 éves késéssel:
https://ippolit.altpop.hu


A Süketfajdok tánczenéje A és B oldalak
 
 
Koncert 1987:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT1iiz6hjmA&feature=youtu.be
 

IPPOLIT MATVEJEVICS


Bő harminc év késéssel jelent meg a szolnoki progresszív alt-rock csapat, az Ippolit Matvejevics stúdióanyaga "Egy sosem volt legenda feltámadása" címmel az Alt Productions kiadó gondozásában. Az 1985 és 1990 között létezett zenekar vinyl lemeze egyfajta kései mementóként tárja elénk a késő Kádár-kor és a rendszerváltás időszakát.

Ippolit Matvejevics a Tizenkét szék című Ilf-Petrov, szovjet-orosz írópáros regényének egyik főalakja, a Madame veje, a vezetékneve pedig Vorobjanyinov, azaz Verebes. Az együttes alapításának gondolata Szolnokon, egy tiszaligeti hintán született meg, 1985. május 25-én valamivel éjfél előtt. Az egykori Madame Petuhova volt énekese, Pap Csilla találkozott egy másik buliból hazafelé tartó Csomor Csabával (akkor épp a Sound együttes végnapjainak dobosa volt) és Vígh Csabával, aki ugyanabban a formációban basszusgitározott. A véletlen találkozás résztvevői között, a kellően feldobott hangulatban néhány mondat után megszületett az egyezség, hogy az egykori Madame Petuhova együttes zsenge, ám biztató kísérletezéseinek továbbvitelére márpedig „kell egy csapat". Fél évbe telt, mire az ötletet tettek követték, Dian Róbert gitáros és L. Menyhért László fuvolista csatlakozásával gyakorlatilag az ötnegyed Sound együttes lett maga az Ippolit Matvejevics.

Az akkor a Megyei Művelődési és Ifjúsági Központ fenntartásában lévő szabadtéri színpad sarkában volt néhány kisebb helyiség, itt kezdődtek meg a próbák, mégpedig a formáció alkotótevékenységének öt évét mindvégig meghatározó módon: a Pap Béla által írt szövegekhez készültek az együttes közös munkájával a számos elemből építkező, többek által art-rocknak nevezett zenék. Dian Róbert felelt a gitártémákért, a néhány koncerten a Petuhovában is felbukkanó L. Menyhért László ütősökkel és cizellált fuvolajátékával tette izgalmassá a számokat, míg a megbízható ritmuslapokról Csomor „Csörömpő" Csaba és Vígh „Hörömpő" Csaba gondoskodtak. Negyed év intenzív próba után 1986 tavaszán, az AORTA megyei selejtezőjén mutatkozott be az együttes, a Keletre fel!, és a Drakula birodalma című számokkal. A zenét leginkább hard-rock elemek alkották és Dian Robi szélvészgyors gitártekerései jellemezték, néhol a fuvola fátyolos felhangjaival. A számok nem a hagyományos verze-refrén-verze szerkezetben álltak össze, hanem több, olykor az előző részhez alig, vagy egyáltalán nem illő motívumokból. 

ippolit_matvejevics2.jpg

1986-ban a zenekar a tehetségkutató verseny területi fordulóját megnyerve bejutott a tizenhárom együttest számláló országos döntőbe. A kor szelleméhez igazodva az  évtized közepén az amatőr zenei versenyek jelenthették az egyetlen kitörési lehetőséget, így nem csoda, hogy abban az évben országszerte 600 (!) együttes jelentkezett a versenyre. Ennek tükrében az Ippolit Matvejevics együttes harmadik helye komoly sikerként értékelhető, főleg azért, mert a mezőny javát leginkább az Első Emelet akkori mérvadó zenei világa ihlette (az első helyet az Exotic és az Új Menüett megosztva kapta).

A bronzhelyezéssel járó díj két részből állt: az együttes ideiglenes profi működési engedélyt kapott (melyet a következő év tavaszán váltottak egy sikeres vizsga után állandóra), és két-három szám felvétele a Magyar Rádió nyolcas stúdiójában, ahol Victor Máté zenész- producernek szabad keze volt. Már amennyire. A felvételek tervezett időpontjában már Kiss Imre állt a rádió Szórakoztatózenei Osztályának élén és kis hezitálás után úgy döntött, nem vállal kockázatot a zenekar szövegei kapcsán, így nem lett rádiófelvétele az együttesnek. Reklamációra abban a korban nem volt lehetőség.

Az akkoriban a BRAVO kiadó ügyeit intéző Boros Lajoshoz Viktor Máté révén jutott el az együttes híre, ő azonban egyszerű ötlettel vette elejét az esetleges kellemetlenségeknek: az AORTA-n készült felvételek alapján közölte, hogy az ének hamis. Ennyi. E nyilvánvaló kibúvót még próbálta a zenekar semmisé tenni, hirtelen felindulásból készített négy felvételt a Rádió Szolnoki Stúdiójában Tóth Árpád segítségével és elküldte Borosnak. A később trónra lépő „Lali Királyt" nem sikerült meggyőzni, de így legalább ez a szalag megőrizte az egyébként az ország egyetlen hivatásos női kamarakórusában, a szolnoki Bartók Béla Kamarakórusban tizenkét évig éneklő Csilla hangját, az Ippolit Matvejevics szellemi hagyatékának kis töredékét.

1987-88-ban az akkori lehetőségekhez képest számos koncerten lépett fel az együttes, eljutott alternatív zenei fesztiválokra, rendszeresen lépett fel a korszak legendás klubjában, a Fekete Lyukban, és a korszellem igényei szerint még ORI-vizsgát is tett, aminek megléte volt a színpadi szereplés feltétele. 1988 szeptemberében Csomor Csaba elhagyta az együttest, baráti szolidaritásból Vígh Csaba is vele tartott, és egy jazz-rock formációban folytatták zenei kalandozásukat. A helyükre némi keresgélés után érkezett Andrási Sándor basszusgitáros, az országosan is ismert, szintén szolnoki Wu-2 együttesből és a számos hard rock bandában edződő B. Tóth Lóránt dobos. Közreműködésükkel az együttes számai lényegesen keményebben szólaltak meg, köszönhetően elsősorban „Madár" két pedállal dübörgő lábdobjainak.

Még egy tagcserés támadás zajlott 1989 végére, amikor a ritmusszekció ismét átalakult, visszatért Vígh Csaba basszusgitározni, és érkezett az Exitben edződő, később az Akelában is megfordult Ratkai Miklós a dobok mögé. Az ő szintén keményebb dobolása újabb lendületet adott a zenekarnak, az utolsó alkotói korszak több szerzeménye (Hétköznapi kommandó, Ma, Nomádok) is e hangzásvilágra épült.

Az összesen huszonhárom dalt készítő együttes szövegeiben a rendszerváltozást közvetlenül megelőző évek társadalmi eseményei is tükröződnek, melyek alól szinte kibújni sem igen lehetett: a Hétköznapi kommandó című számot például nagy nehezen sikerült rákönyörögni a Nagy Feró által gründolt Garázs című válogatás második lemezére, melynek felvételére a Golgota utcai Rocker stúdióban azon az 1990-beli októberi napon került sor, amikor a legdurvábban elbarikádozta az ország valamennyi közútját a taxisblokád. A stúdiómunka igazi örömzenélésnek hatott a hangszerek és erősítők Népligeten át történő kézben cipelése okozta kihívás mellett.

Az együttes 1990 nyarán lépett utoljára színpadra, nősülések, gyerekáldás, ilyesmi volt a háttérben. Kései mementóként még összebarkácsoltak egy számot némi baráti segítséggel, (a stúdiófelvételen Zombori Sándor basszusgitározott, Tóth Árpád bűvölte az effekteket) az 1992-ben kiadott "Szolnok Rock" című válogatáslemezre. A Védtelen világ című szám felvétele az együttesben is néhány koncert erejéig felbukkanó Tóth László gitáros (ex-Wu2) által alapított Denevér stúdióban készült. 

Az "Egy sosem volt legenda feltámadása" című vinyl lemez az alábbiakat tartalmazza: hét szám, 40 percnyi múltidéző felvétel, hatoldalas kiadvány, korabeli zenekari matrica, és az első 25 példányban lemezenként eltérő további korabeli érdekességek. A korong Szolnokon a Szkítia - Avantgard Könyvesboltban (Baross út 3. - www.bigbandi.hu), Budapesten a Wave hanglemezboltban (1065 Bp., Révay köz 1.) kapható, illetve a kiadónál is megrendelhető (altproduct@gmail.com). További információk az együttesről a honlapjukon és Facebook-oldalukon találhatók.

lemezborito_betettel.jpg



READINGS FOR LENT: 'OLD AND NEW' 1 (Ash Wednesday)

I. Vocation and Discernment
Jesus is walking in our midst, as he did in Galilee. He walks through our streets, and he quietly stops and looks into our eyes. His call is attractive and intriguing. Yet today the stress and quick pace of a world constantly bombarding us with stimuli can leave no room for the interior silence in which we can perceive Jesus' gaze and hear his call. In the meantime, many attractively packed offers will come your way. They may seem appealing and exciting, although in time they will only leave you feeling empty, weary and alone. Don't let this happen to you, because the maelstrom of this world can drive you to take a route without real meaning, without direction, without clear goals, and thus thwart many of your efforts. It is better to seek out that calm and quiet that enable you to reflect, pray, look more clearly at the world around you, and then, with Jesus, come to recognise the vocation that is yours in this world.

I mentioned there that all of us, but especially the young, are immersed in a culture of zapping. We can navigate simultaneously on two or more screens and interact at the same time with two or three virtual scenarios. Without the wisdom of discernment, we can easily become prey to every passing trend. Indeed, this is all the more important when some novelty presents itself in our lives. Then we have to decide whether it is new wine brought by God or an illusion created by spirit of this world or the spirit of the devil.

Such discernment, even though it includes reason and prudence, goes beyond them, for it seeks a glimpse of that unique an mysterious plan that God has for each of us... It has to do with the meaning of my life before the Father who knows and loves me, and with the real purpose of my life, which nobody knows better than he'

(From Pope Francis' letter to young people, Christ Is Alive, articles 277-279)


II. Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, 'The fear of the Lord'

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But, if a person has not begun aright, how shall he/she finish aright? If a man has followed the wrong path from the beginning, he must go back and find the beginning, setting his feet on the right path. he who has not the fear of God cannot have love for God. The greatest ascetics, torturers of self who spent forty or fifty years in incessant ascetism, day and night, were filled with the fear of God right up to the time of their death; and these, the most sinless of mortals, cried out in the hour of death: 'Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!'

The fear of the Lord is the salt of devotion. If this salt is lacking, all our devotion is insipid and tepid. The fear of the Lord girds up the loins, encircles the waist, gives the heart sobriety, curbs the mind and chastises self will. Where is repentance without the fear of the Lord? Where is humility? Where is restraint? Where are chastity and patience, service and obedience?

Oh, my brothers and sisters, let us embrace this teaching as holy truth: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
(Bishop Nikolai Velemirovic, Prolog, 2 June)


A prayer specially written for Ash Wednesday and Lent 2021
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

The remembering is easier this year, O God,
our vulnerability and fragility
laid bare by a global pandemic.

The ashes of our former lives,
of our loss and lament are
front and centre, too close for comfort.

Returning with all our hearts,
with fasting, weeping and mourning
has been our long unchosen lent.

And yet we do come,
returning with hands open,
hearts tender and heads weary,

returning with tearstained faces,
smudged with the ashes
of sadness and grief.

Returning with questions,
sorrows, frustrations,
longings and hopes
 
that you will take the ashes of our lives,
this dust from which we are made and
reshape us, breathe new life into us,

giving us a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning
and a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
 
So help us, God,
Amen.
 
[Written with reference to the Ash Wednesday liturgy, Joel 2: 12, Genesis 2:7 and Isaiah 61:3 by Wendy Lloyd]




2021. február 14., vasárnap

The Leper as An Example for Our Faith

In our Bible study group, Philip shared with me his experience of leprosy. His father took him to the missionary hospital. There, as a nine-year-old, he saw how a leper's hand was operated. Not going into visual details, the operation was needed to strengthen the ligaments in the person's hand. As leprosy advances, the person loses its senses to feel pain, and hold himself or herself. The reason I am sharing this recollection is to feel the leper in the Bible close to us. We are indeed closer to him than we think. What can we learn from the life-example of our Biblical leper?  

'A man infected with leprosy must wear his clothing torn and his hair disordered: he must shield his upper lip and cry: "unclean, unclean." As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean; therefore he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.' This 'unclean', 'unclean'echoes in us with a timely message. Is not our experience of Covid 19 so much similar to that of those, who became outcasts because of leprosy. We feel a similarly painful separation. This is a separation from our previous, normal life. This is a similar separation from our friends, colleagues or members of family whom we are no longer able to see or visit when we want to.  

'He must shield his upper lips and cry: "unclean, unclean".' With the beginning of the penitential season on Ash Wednesday this coming week, we should also ask. Are not we indeed 'unclean', have not we become 'unclean' as a culture? Is not our state - our unadmitted sins, our unexamined lives - crying for forgiveness? Have not we offended God, and Nature itself, with our sins and selfishness? Before we enter Lent, as a community, as a nation, as a culture, should raise this question.  

To answer this big question, first we need to meet this leper (inside us) in person. For what we can learn from him, can lead us to genuine repentance. How is he our life example, an example for our faith? 

Matthew and Luke, in their Gospel report that this miracle happened in the presence of a huge crowd. The leper comes to Jesus in the midst of a great crowd. They must have been astonished that a leper presses through them: a leper who was not allowed to approach anyone. The fact that he made his way to Jesus through all these crowds was so astonishing that Matthew uses the exclamation, 'lo!'.  

The man 'comes beseeching him and falling on his knees to him' as a most humble suppliant. Luke says, he fell on his face while kneeling, bowing his head to the ground. In Matthew he prostrated himself and addressed Jesus as kyrie. 

Oriental people were very free with prostrations, and kyrie was often little more than our respectful 'sir'. But here something more is going on.  

At the time leprosy was incurable. So what the leper asks is less important. He knows that it is incurable. He knows that this healing may never happen, and he would humbly accept it. Instead of what he asks, the way in which he asks is significant. He fully believes in the power of Jesus to heal his leprosy with a single word. 'You can clean me', and he adds, 'if you will.' 

There is no doubt in him about Jesus. The emphasis is on his submission to Jesus. He leaves his healing to the will of Jesus. As a leper he does not expect this teacher to touch him, he does not have to… He places his case completely in the hands of Jesus. This is the highest form of trust. He is willing, if Jesus so wills, to remain in his living death. 

Richard Lensky's Commentary draws our attention to the fact: this leper distinguishes God's temporal gift from his spiritual and eternal gifts. He exactly knows that he is asking for a temporal gift, which God's wisdom and love may withhold from us and often does. 

 

How did this leper come to this wisdom, humility, and faith?  We do not know the exact details. But his case shows how the teaching of Jesus produced this spiritual effect. That is why it is so important to listen to Jesus' teaching. To be 'hearers', week in and week out, daily. This faith was produced in someone, who 'was full of leprosy' (Luke). It was in an advanced state. Just like we have been immersed in Covid 19, for a year now.  

We don't know when God will give us our recovery from Covid19. We all want to be cured from it. Yet, the leper reminds us, it is a temporal gift. God may give it or may postpone our healing. Is there something which we have to do, as a preparation? Something, similar task of trust and hope, preparation and effort to get to Jesus, as the leper did? What is this task? 

Whenever our prayers will be heard, we can be certain, that Jesus is moved by compassion. The biblical word is olpagnisomai which Mark uses. The verb means to have one's inner organs moved, lungs, heart, and liver, which were considered to be the seat of the feelings such as love or pity. We may say that 'his heart was stirred'.  

It implies not only a pained feeling at the site of suffering. It is more than sympathy which feels the other's suffering and shows mildness or kindness. 

The story of the leper shows how Jesus heart was ever filled with merciful kindness and feelings of pity for the distressed. Whenever and wherever suffering and sorrow of body or soul met his eyes, Jesus was moved with the will to help. Whenever he sees suffering, he is moved to help.  

Covid 19, after a long year, is still with us. Is there something, what is that something, what is missing, which we should do in order that Jesus act out his compassion, which is surely there. Is this delay form his part or from our part? 

 

14.02.2021 

 


2021. február 7., vasárnap

New Creation: the metaphor of the ‘kintsugi tea-cup’(Job 7:1-4,6-7; 1Corinthians ).16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39)

 

I would like us to see our three readings against the image of a beautifully mended broken Japanese tea-cup. In Japan, re-building the broken vessels has developed into on art. It is called 'Kintsugi'. A Kintsugi master mends the the broken tea ware with Japanese lacquer and then covers the lines of connection with gold. The result is not the old, mended vessel, but a completely new creation, which is even more beautiful than the original. So let us have a look at our readings with the help of this beautiful metaphor. 

In our first reading, Job - as always - depicts the broken human condition. 'Like the slave, sighing for the shade, or the workman with no thought but his wages, months of delusion I have assigned to me, nothing for my own but nights of grief.' In his book we can recognise our own sufferings, personal and collective. In times of Covid 19, the pain of Job fully resonates with our pains. With him, we cry out, 'everything is broken.' 

Apostle Saint Paul knows well this brokenness. Think of his conversion. His pharisaic Jewish tradition was shattered by the new faith in Jesus Christ. All he saw was that people were leaving their teachers and turned to Christ. Paul was broken. He thought he failed. In his anger, he persecuted the members of the new movement, and agreed with putting them to death. He fell from the horseback, became blind. A broken man. Listening to his words speaks about how he found himself again in Christ. His letters, with honesty, recall his previous life. Or he is always honestly mentioning his struggles and sufferings in declaring the good news. Yet, in every letter of his, what dominates is the radiance of grace. Symbolically, it is what we see in our Japanese tea-cup. The golden lines, connecting and vitalising the previously broken parts. 

The Gospel passage, in a close up, shows Jesus 'mending' a broken situation. Peter's mother-in-law is ill. Now he restores the unity of the family. Out of illness and concern, he creates a loving and flourishing community. In it, everyone finds their place immediately. Peter's mother-in-law 'serves', the apostles listen to his teaching. Then we see Jesus healing all who were brought to him. (A good model of the church, how it can suddenly function and flourish again.) 

Again, our image of the renewed vessel helps us understand an important feature of Jesus' teaching and healing ministry. Whatever situations and people he touched, he did more than healing them and giving them the right instructions. He added something previously missing from these people's life. It is an unspoken beauty, which they could not even name. Think of the 'golden lines' in the vessel, the added beauty. Jesus forged a new community. In those, to whom 'faith in him' was added, they remained faithful to him. The first Christians came to faith not out of blue, but because they were marked by Jesus' healing love. This was that added beauty, which remained invisible and unnamed while he was them in his teaching ministry. 

Finally, let us think about ourselves, in front of our metaphor. Our parish, our life together, is like a broken and renewed vessel. Regarding our past, our failures, we are a broken vessel. 'The Christian gospel, [locally, too] begins with the awareness of our brokenness…Christ came not to "fix" us, not just to restore, but to make us a new creation. [Just as the Kintsugi master] does not just "fix" or repair a broken vessel. Rather, he makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.' (Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith) 

 Let us bear in our hearts this image and think of our own community as a new creation, repaired and renewed in Jesus' hands. What does it entail, how should I see my brothers and sisters, easy and not easy ones, in line with this image? What does it say about us when we are together? Is not this image of the renewed cup with the golden connecting lines between the pieces a good expression of how the Eucharist which we receive unites us? 

However, let us return to Saint Paul's letter. 'Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.' Let us think about our role. Let us ponder that 'added beauty' which only we can offer to our broken world? Paul remains a powerful reminder that we Christians have a unique contribution in this world. What is it which no social action, no technology, no government, no local council, no political movement can not give - only us. Think of the 'golden line' in our vessel, which is the image of the Church. It is the living faith, our living worship in trust in God and in one another's goodness. Let us cherish this beauty in order to connect us, let it shine and grow! 

 

05.02.2021