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Universe Of Faith

30/10/2017

Did you ever ask a really big question? Did your mind ever wonder after seeing some tiny event in nature? Was your heart ever restless even though you were ok? Did you ever feel that love is infinite? If these are true, then maybe Universe of Faith is for you. Think of yourself as part of this vast universe. You do feel very very small when you do this!

Then, think again, you can ask questions about the whole universe: Where does it come from? How come it is so beautiful? How come the laws of nature allow me to understand its workings? Maybe you can even come to see that the ‘universe’ points ‘outside’ itself! That’s what the very word means: ‘towards One’.

You can think of the entire universe as a vast, beautiful Cathedral that soars above you and encircles you. Despite its vastness, you somehow feel safe… you do not feel alone. Looking at it and sensing it leads you to look both upwards till you are somehow beyond it, and inwards till you are in the depths of yourself. It is then that you could realise that you are in the presence of the mystery who is the source of all; the mystery who speaks and whose words are the very universe; the mystery who takes delight and whose pleasure is the beauty around you; the mystery who loves and whose love is both within you and around you.

If you have such a living sense of wonder; if you are not too afraid of a long but beautiful journey; if you do not mind feeling completely loved; if you want some companionship on the way … the Universe of Faith is for you. It is for you even if you consider yourself as a believer but not as belonging to the Church; even if you see yourself as somehow ‘Christian’ but do not see yourself as quite believing what the Church believes.

In this site, we see ourselves as fellow travellers who strive to share simply yet profoundly what we have discovered with all those seeking inspiration as they seek to enter their inner life; as they seek to reach out to others. We try to make more tangible the idea of finding God in all people, all things, and all events. We want to be present to one another on this journey of life that involves us all. We firmly believe that no one is really alone!

On this quest, we never want to stop searching because we know that God is so grand, so beautiful. So we are very much aware that we are never ‘there’! We know that God speaks through light and darkness, through pleasure and pain, through health and sickness. We are also very aware that we do not know God or love God enough. We are on the way. We know our fragility; we know our moods, our conflicts. We do pray that even if only once in our lives we may love God completely. And we believe that God really wants to reach out to us and labours at this continuously in our lives.

 

Universe of Faith is the work of people of all ages: both those who are in peaceful possession of faith and those who have left the faith or the Church. The content of this website is faithful to the Catholic faith with space for journeying, questioning, doubting, and searching. We are continuously looking for personal stories, reflections from life on Bible verses, art work, videos and more. We are interested in what’s original, new, meaningful, timely, speaks faith. If you wish to send us an item or give feedback, you are most welcome. And please do get in touch with us even if you think that you’re too young or that the story is too simple or what you say is too ordinary. We rejoice to see God in action. And we believe that God is present and acts and loves everywhere … whether we know it or not! We’ll be glad if you get in touch with us.

If you wish to contact the author of a particular writing/picture feel free to contact us on [email protected]. We are people on the move, journeying in our relationships, in our aloneness, in our communities, exploring and investing in the life-giving encounter with God who speaks personally and intimately. We want to share this with others and listen to others.

Unless noted otherwise, the material of the website is copyright free. Material uploaded is re-usable.

Universe of Faith is an initiative of the Pastoral Formation Institute, Malta.

That Unreachable Thing Called Beauty

28/08/2017

“I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak)

There must be a reason why this sentence etched itself so deeply into my memory. It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, there simply must be a good reason for it to do so. I keep finding myself returning to this sentence, each time inserting different adjectives – opposites, contradictions – that shouldn’t work together. Words such as distant and close; rich and poor; wretched and peaceful; silent and loud; real and abstract; man and God…you get the picture. In all cases, the sentence holds true.

It seems to me now, that this single sentence is somewhat of a paradigm of the entire human experience. We simply cannot understand the value of one thing without that value which tends to stand on the most distant, opposite end. Can we start to understand the truth, without identifying the non-truths; or true friendship without having suffered betrayal? Can we read a complete sentence, without knowing the value of a single letter? Can we fully appreciate the splendour of a mosaic, without considering the thousands of little glass pieces (tesserae) used to create it? I am convinced the answer is no. So how can we expect to recognise Beauty (yes, with a capital B); or Truth, or Love (all with capitals), or Oneness without first seeing (but it is an ever so small and limited a glimpse) what they are not, through the multiplicity of means and scenarios which we are offered throughout our life, daily?

I am here concerned with Beauty, but since all are connected, one will naturally and inevitably relate to the other in a practically inseparable way. Much has been written about Beauty already, and whatever has been written here has certainly been written elsewhere before. “Art,” claims Pope Francis, “is not only a witness of the beauty of Creation, but it is also an instrument of evangelisation” (‘My idea of art,’ 2015). In other words, art is both passive and active – it is one and the other, and both at the same time. Indeed, the sentence still holds true.

Art is a tool, an instrument, and for a long time in the history of art (and man), Beauty was the insufferable cause and desire of several artists and patrons. All longed for Beauty, many attempted to reach it, and all, of course, failed. Because Beauty, in this sense, is not only unreachable but also unrecognisable. Yet, and here comes the paradox, it is forever approachable. We yearn what we cannot fully have. Still we try to reach it in one way other, and often we do not realise that we are.

What we will possibly find within art is not Beauty itself, but an expression of it, a taste to wet our appetite for the actual thing. And so we ask for more, to see more and know more. But the actual thing we are then looking for, is something art cannot provide us with. It is only an instrument, not the actual music, and it is the music that we desire most to hear.

Giulia Privitelli – Pietre Vive

Throughout the summer period, Pietre Vive is offering numerous formation camps in Spain (Santiago de Compostela and Puente de la Reina), in France (on Gothic art and architecture) and Greece (on early Christian communities, between paganism and jews). Contact [email protected] for more information or [email protected] to get in touch with the local community.

Of Resounding Gongs on Christian Conscience

21/08/2017

 

Lately, there has been much talk about Conscience. More exactly claims about decisions taken from a Christian formed Conscience. Such claims got even an enthusiastic and “blogged opinion piece support” coming from “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1Cor 13: 1) hijacking – as in the recent past – Christian discourse on Conscience.

The Greek word for “conscience” in the New Testament is suneidēsis, i.e. “moral wakefulness/consciousness.” In the New Testament conscience has more of a personal undertone, while in the Old Testament it is more related to the covenant community through which one relates to God and Covenantal Precepts in being friends with God. Therefore for a conscience claiming to be Christian, it has to be always informed by and formed within the Community of Faith, though personal as it may be.

Conscience is:

  1. A God-given capacity for self-evaluation. A good conscience is clearly in accordance with morals and values based on God’s standards. A good conscience shows uprightness of heart.

2. A witness to the presence of God’s law written in our hearts and therefore it is not external to us. It is honest, leads to holiness of life and authenticity.

3. A retainer of the individual’s values yielding a strong sense of right and wrong. There is no good conscience if the latter is lacking. Conscience is clear where there is the maturity of faith and understanding. Immaturity in faith and lack of understanding leads to weak conscience. At this level, conscience is reduced to an opinion. BUT CONSCIENCE IS NOT OPINION.

A clear conscience does not smell of ulterior Pinocchian hidden motivations. It stems from the virtue purity of heart and is preserved by constant adherence to God through God’s Word and participation in the life of the Church (the community of disciples) which renews and softens our hearts.

Rev. Dr Charlo Camilleri 

in Riflessjonijiet – www.ccarmel.com

Fr. Fabio’s Reflections on Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment – Part 4

18/08/2017

During the conference from ‘Krakow 2 Panama’ held in Rome in April 2017, Fr Fabio Attard SDB was asked to share his thoughts on the third part of the Preparatory Document For The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment”. We seriously encourage those involved in youth ministry to read his sharing as it is full of insight. The article will be split into 4 parts and we will upload two parts a week. For those who have not yet had the chance to read the preparatory document please click the following links: Maltese – English

Here’s Part 4 of Fr Fabio reflections on the Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment. If you haven’t read part 1, 2 & 3, please click here.

4. Courage

Taking up this last point – the means of expression in pastoral work, educative care and the path of evangelization, silence, contemplation and prayer – here we have a challenge that Pope Francis deals with in EG:

Youth ministry, as traditionally organized, has also suffered the impact of social changes. Young people often fail to find responses to their concerns, needs, problems and hurts in the usual structures. As adults, we find it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns and demands, and to speak to them in a language they can understand. For the same reason, our efforts in the field of education do not produce the results expected (EG 105).

With this reflection, we close the circle that we started commenting on the first point: walking with young people. Being part of the journey of the young means understanding their language which is much more than pure vocabulary. The language of ministry on the one hand demands from us to inhabit and get in tune with the world of young people, but even more so it asks us also to tune with their searching hearts. If we are called to understand the language of young people, we must first be able to understand and decipher their silence, their loneliness, the sense of their research. To live with the humility of the pilgrim and the patience of being a true companion is the greatest and the most appreciated gift young people are looking for.

From this humble incarnation in their world that we propose paths of evangelization that can educate towards the sense of the sacred, an evangelization which offers a pedagogy that leads to the discovery of the divine. The sacred and the transcendent are rooted in the hearts of young people. It is up to us educators to promote the right conditions for this desire not to be overtaken by shallowness, suffocated by banality or betrayed by proposals that are only seemingly spiritual.
In a dialogue with young people during his apostolic visit to the United Kingdom, in 2010, Pope Benedetto XVI comments how the hearts of young people are already predisposed towards the goodness and beauty:
Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend. God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. As you come to know him better, you find you want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in your own life. You are attracted to the practice of virtue (17th September 2010).

In this sense, and with this in mind, we must reflect on the following challenge: how to propose to young people, gradually and with respect to their rhythms, experiences of silence and contemplation, prayer and adoration? It would be helpful for us to ask ourselves where do fear and resistance, that sometimes we encounter at this stage, originate from?

Conclusion
I conclude with the same invitation that leaves us the Blessed Paul VI at the end of EN with a very simple and direct language:
May the world of our time, trying, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received in the joy of Christ, and who are willing to stake their lives so that the kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the heart of the world
May the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world (EN n.80).

Fr Fabio Attard SDB

If you haven’t read part 1, 2 & 3, please click here.

Fr. Fabio’s Reflections on Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment – Part 3

14/08/2017

During the conference from ‘Krakow 2 Panama’ held in Rome in April 2017, Fr Fabio Attard SDB was asked to share his thoughts on the third part of the Preparatory Document For The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment”. We seriously encourage those involved in youth ministry to read his sharing as it is full of insight. The article will be split into 4 parts and we will upload two parts a week. For those who have not yet had the chance to read the preparatory document please click the following links: Maltese – English

Here’s Part 3 of Fr Fabio reflections on the Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment. If you haven’t read part 1 & 2, please click here.

3. Processes
A youth ministry that leaves its mark in the lives of young people is a youth that is definitely based on processes in the various places where it happens. We know that we always run the risk of limiting our youth ministry proposal built only around events. It is a constant temptation. A valuable youth ministry is inspired and guided by the belief that the constant and systematic group experience is one that ultimately leaves an imprint on the ordinary life of the young. The group experience favours an environment that educates, a community that accompanies, a proposal that supports and strengthens those small choices that every day we are called to make.

The idea of the journey, the group experience, the feeling of being identified with other young people, creates an environment in which convergence between the Gospel and culture is born. In Evangelii Nuntiandi Blessed Paul VI has identified here the central challenge, that between the Gospel and everyday life, between the Gospel and culture, defining it as “the tragedy of our time” (EN 20).

Consequently, when we talk about processes we are referring to all those places, spaces and opportunities where the group experience has the potential to gradually generate a culture of a living faith, joyful, beautiful. One way of being able to gradually interpret history in the light of the Gospel.

It is within these seemingly small processes, in a very silent manner, where the seeds of a frame of mind and belief are sown, that later find in great gatherings, like the World Youth Days, a visibility that strengthens those small moments of everyday ministry. In addition, this daily routine should be strengthened by the backbone of generosity to the poor, by the experiences of volunteering, among which we find the experience of missionary volunteering.

Let us not be misled by the false fear that can convince us that our young people are not ready to respond to demanding and solid pastoral and spiritual proposals. Rather, we must have the courage to ask ourselves if sometimes it is not us adults who project on our young people those fears that we do not recognize, let alone deal with.

Here we need to encounter the challenge of the digital world. It is prophetic how more that 40 years ago Blessed Paul VI in EN commented the issue of adaptation and fidelity of language:
Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addresses, if it does not use their language, their signs and symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask, and if it does not have an impact on their concrete life (EN n.63).

Fr Fabio Attard SDB

If you haven’t read part 1 & 2, please click here

Fr. Fabio’s Reflections on Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment – Part 2

11/08/2017

During the conference from ‘Krakow 2 Panama’ held in Rome in April 2017, Fr Fabio Attard SDB was asked to share his thoughts on the third part of the Preparatory Document For The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment”. We seriously encourage those involved in youth ministry to read his sharing as it is full of insight. The article will be split into 4 parts and we will upload two parts a week. For those who have not yet had the chance to read the preparatory document please click the following links: Maltese – English

Here’s Part 2 of Fr Fabio reflections on the Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment. If you haven’t read part 1, please click here, or the image below.

2. Communion and pastoral leadership

Real youth ministry does not imagine or perceive young people as patients needing care! In the pastoral journey of the Church young people are at the same time objects and subjects of ministry, like the Church itself, which evangelized by Christ while and evangelizing Christ!

First, we must look to the young, especially the poorest and those most in need, even the most wretched among them, with the certainty that in the heart of each one there is an accessible point of goodness. It is the duty of each educator and evangelizer to discover this space of goodness, this sensitive cord of the heart and make it vibrate, because even in the most unfortunate cases, the most rebellious and difficult young people, there are strings can vibrate life.

Second, it is important that we are guided by the conviction that bringing the good news is not a privilege of a few, but the invitation offered to all. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis acknowledges that “even if it is not always easy to approach young people, progress has been made in two  areas: the awareness that the entire community is called to evangelize and educate the young, and the urgent need for the young to exercise greater leadership” (106). With this conviction, today more than ever, we can never give up the goal that sees young people as apostles of other youth.

One of the features that is deeply felt in the youth charismatic experiences is the growth within the hearts of young people not only of the joy of faith in Jesus Christ, but more so the desire that the faith received is also shared, from evangelized to evangelizing. It is a consoling duty to offer young people this high standard of ordinary Christian living as commented by Saint John Paul II at the end of the Holy Year in Novo Millennio Ineunte (NMI)

“The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living: the whole life of the Christian community and of Christian families must lead in this direction. It is also clear however that the paths to holiness are personal and call for a genuine “training in holiness”, adapted to people’s needs. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church” (NMI n.31).

Fr Fabio Attard SDB

Haven’t read part 1, please click here.

Fr. Fabio’s Reflections on Preparatory Document: Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment – Part 1

07/08/2017

During the conference from ‘Krakow 2 Panama’ held in Rome in April 2017, Fr Fabio Attard SDB was asked to share his thoughts on the third part of the Preparatory Document For The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment”. We seriously encourage those involved in youth ministry to read his sharing as it is full of insight. The article will be split into 4 parts and we will upload two parts a week. For those who have not yet had the chance to read the preparatory document please click the following links: Maltese – English

PRESENTATION OF PART III OF THE PREPARATORY DOCUMENT
FOR THE 15th ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS
“YOUTH, FAITH AND VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT”

Part III of the Preparatory Document (PD), Pastoral Activity, could be an easy victim of a purely operational interpretation of the ongoing process towards the Synod Young People, the Faith and Vocation Discernment. Such a summary conclusion is not complete; it is just superficial. Seen in its entirety, Part III of the PD presupposes and builds on the first two parts. Being convinced that pastoral action cannot be thought of as if it were a thing to do, we ask ourselves how can this part help us strengthen the pastoral work as an answer within the overall pastoral journey?

Part III lays open before us several specific challenges that must be read and discussed in the light of the broader journey of the Church. I offer some thoughts around 4 points that help us capture well this Part III and take advantage of the proposals it contains. I propose that we read Part III in the light of 4 perspectives that correspond to sub-titles it contains.

1. Empathy
The first point carries the theme; ‘Walking with Young People’. It is crucial to see the subject in light of the EG (Evangelii Gaudium). The three verbs used – going out, seeing, calling – are the synthesis of EG. And it is precisely in the light of the EG that the journey of youth ministry should be thought and lived.
And here we have a first challenge: the urgent need for us to keep EG as our compass. The importance of studying it well so that it remains a light that guides our pastoral steps: “going beyond a preconceived framework, encountering young people where they are, adapting to their times and pace of life and taking them seriously” is a result of pastoral empathy choice.
Pastoral empathy that shows up in the “willingness to spend time with them, to listen to the story of their lives and to be attentive to their joys, hopes, sadness and anxieties; all in an effort to share them. This leads to the enculturation of the Gospel and for the Gospel to enter every culture, even among young people.”

Going out, seeing, and calling as a pastoral attitude that becomes both a method and a journey. A life’s choice that is the result of the courage to get out of outdated and rigid patterns, the usual “we have always done so.” A choice that joyfully realizes the aspirations and hopes of the young, but also a choice that allows one to be challenged by the suffering and disappointments that they, the young people are paying too high a price.

Only when we prophetically go out and with humility we encounter the story of our young people, then we can be credible. Our words, our proposals have already been listened to and evaluated by young people before they are even spoken or heard. They are experts in judging whether our presence among them is the result of real empathy or just a barren and dry physical one. Walking with the young is beautiful but also demanding. They ask us to accompany them to the truth, but with charity. Our journey with young people is the expression of the journeying Church, the bride of Christ. It is like Christ that we as a Church journey with the young.

These two points, patient and empathic listening, and the journey of the Church, are well summarized in the EG:
As adults, we find it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns and demands, and to speak to them in a language they can understand. For the same reason, our efforts in the field of education do not produce the results expected. The rise and growth of associations and movements mostly made up of young people can be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit, who blazes new trails to meet their expectations and their search for a deep spirituality and a more real sense of belonging. There remains a need, however, to ensure that these associations actively participate in the Church’s overall pastoral efforts (EG n.105).

 

Fr Fabio Attard SDB

I Dare You to Accept!

04/07/2017

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring

Being a student at the University of Malta and being a young person myself, I can understand the words of Frodo Baggins in this conversation with Gandalf, when he couldn’t understand what had to happen and why it all had to depend on him. When faced with the reality of himself, of others, of God and of his most probable future, man might deny, or else victimise himself and like Frodo remain in his emotions without actually doing anything.

This is where Gandalf comes in and shows something which is much more profound and much more interesting. He affirms the same wish which Frodo had just expressed, but with the difference that he offers the solution. He invites Frodo to accept the situation as an opportunity rather than as a hurdle, and to do something which will change the present.

I find this truly interesting, as while walking in the grounds of university one might notice both Frodos and Gandalfs. While there are those who both psychologically and spiritually are unable to digest what is happening in their lives, there are those who take the opportunities which come up in their lives and use them to design a phenomenal future. The aim of this article is surely not to judge a part as being wrong and the other as being right. Together we will strive to find what is similar between them and convince ourselves that life is to be loved and cherished. After all, it is our one and only chance.

What I first notice in both of them is the search for love. Those who still cannot grasp the events happening in their lives are those who usually come to mind when talking about seeking love. This is because such people might seem confused, protection seekers and continuously looking for advice. We immediately notice that they desperately need to find love around them , and more than this, the love which comes from above. The love which is perfect and which makes every situation in life sweeter than it actually is. On the other hand, those who accept the different situations in their lives are those who have understood both the love of God and of the people who surround them and also that they cannot satisfy every person on the planet. They have reached a level of search for love in the sense that they can accept the fact that they are individually loved by God (to the extent that He died for each and every one of them). This is the fact which makes them continue searching to fulfil the mission which they were entrusted with.

Something else which I notice in the university’s Frodos and Gandalfs is the search for fulfilment and, as a result of this, for true joy. Once again we can notice that both of them are at a different level from each other. If we go around and ask what would people ultimately want in life, I believe that each and every person would answer with fulfilment and true joy, or else with something which will eventually get them there. Yet, this state of joy never comes simply by focusing on and internally improving oneself. It is about doing what God himself did for us: transcendence. It is about self transcendence, which means trying to exceed your own limits. In our earthly language, we might say this means giving up yourself to the service of others. True joy is then the result of such an action. It is understood that this is something which we learn to do gradually throughout life. The key word here is ‘gradually’. This must be obtained by turning to the one who was the first to transcend himself to us, God himself. I believe that by turning to Him and literally plead for his help in doing the mission of transcending ourselves in the way which seems best is important for the action to happen in the first place. Gandalfs can also be of help by reassuring, by listening, by being true friends. Unfortunately, amongst us we encounter many people who all they wish for is that someone might stop from the hustle and bustle and just listen to them. You might say, I do not feel that I’m capable of giving counsel. Yet, everyone has the ears to listen and everyone has the heart to feel the burdens of his fellow friends.

Nowadays, the Church is focusing more and more about accompaniment. This might seem something too priestly, but it is not! It is something which God expects from each and every believer:

– “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…” (Mt 25, 34-35)

– “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mt 5, 7)

This is our most important task at present: being merciful by clothing (i.e. comforting) and giving a drink (i.e. giving love and space) to those who desperately are in need of it.

Finally, I would like to make it clear that I don’t want to picture our society as being divided between those who are still not ready against those who are. I believe that all of us can be both Frodos and Gandalfs. At different periods in one’s life, a person might be a Gandalf in a way that he/she does what he/she has to do and also helps other people in doing this. At other times, he/she might be a Frodo and might truly need the support of another person.

Whatever happens in life, whether you’re Frodo or Gandalf, always remember the words of Samwise Gamgee, “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers

Jean Claude Schembri