HAPPY NEW YEAR!

If you want to make a New Year promise to yourself why not do something that might enrich your understanding of the faith we profess? It will take time and mental effort. And making time to do things can be a problem! Time has a way of capturing us and driving us. The clock can be both servant and enemy. Time was when the mechanical clock was the norm. No more. We no longer wind the clock; the clock winds us!

Our grasp of things change as we go through life. When I was in secondary school back in the early 'fifties I learned that there was just one galaxy in the universe, the Milky Way. Nobody accepts that today. We know now that there are more than 100 million galaxies out there. I remember hearing back then that planet earth was some 4,000 years old. Our scientists tell us today that the universe is some 13.7 billion years old. To live is to change and keep on learning.

I remember learning from "Hart's Christian Doctrine," the standard secondary school textbook in Ireland back then, that heaven was a place "up there" and hell was a place "down there." We know today that the concept of "place," whether up or down, is not a true description of the afterlife. The afterlife (or whatever happens after death) is a condition our decisions have brought us to, rather than a place we are sent to. Long ago, we took the biblical references to flames to mean that hell was a fiery furnace. Theologians and scripture scholars tell us today that these images must be taken not literally but symbolically.

I learned long ago that God was everywhere present, like the air we breathe. However, I was conditioned by everyday practice and example to believe that "up in heaven" didn't mean here on earth, except in Catholic churches. It was not uncommon to see teens drop into the parish church to say a prayer on their way home from school in the evening. While that was a good practice, it probably contributed to the impression that God was nowhere else to be found. The ubiquitous picture of the Sacred Heart in Irish homes long ago, often with a small oil lamp burning in front, while reminding us of God's love tended also to suggest that God was more in heaven than on earth.

In Aramaic, the language of Jesus, the concept of heaven has an 'outer' quality; the image of light shining through all creation. God is present here and now as well as hereafter and later. Do we suffer from a kind of "learned blindness" with regard to our faith and the presence of God? Have we allowed the limits of external practice - church services and rituals - to lull us into feeling good rather than making us aware of God's presence within and without.

There's much more to the Christian life than externally keeping the commandments and showing up in church. Many years of pastoral work have convinced me there's a need for people to take time out and seek to understand the faith they learned in school, A faith that seeks understanding is not just a matter for clergy and theologians. It's the nature of our faith and it's for everybody. One of Boston College's finest teachers, Thomas Groome, recently published a book in this regard, 'Will There Be Faith?' The subtitle of the book offers the challenging answer: 'It Depends on Every Christian.'

Professor Groome is one of the presenters for the new online 'Forward in Faith' series which you have read about in your parish bulletins and the weekly diocesan newspaper. I recommend this course from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Beginning January 17, it seeks to develop among Catholic adults a deeper sense of God and life. For more information, go to the Archdiocese of San Francisco website, click on 'Forward in Faith' and follow the links. So, take charge of your time and see if you can fit the two three-month semesters into your schedule as a New Year gift to yourself. And a very Happy New Year to one and all!

PASTOR EMERITUS