“LOVE is the motivation, but JUSTICE is the instrument”
                                                   Reinhold Niebuhr ( 1892-1971)
 
Many in the community would be aware of my recent time in hospital. I went into Greenslopes Hospital for what might be described as a fairly standard operation, a full knee replacement.
I was meant to be there for three to five days.

A week later I was readmitted into hospital, but this time the Mater Private, for the surgery to be done a second time, following the contraction of an infection in the wound of the first procedure.
Three more operations later under general anaesthetic, various procedures and tests under local anaesthetic, and five weeks of being in hospital I was finally discharged.

In that time I found myself facing the possibility of dying and the probability of being diagnosed with cancer, both very confronting weeks, to say the least.

Fortunately for me neither death nor cancer were the final diagnosis, but what I did not see at the time was the opportunity being given to me to LET GO the illusion that we all carry, that I was somehow in control of my life and my destiny. It was certainly an opportunity of death to my own small self, to my EGO!

We are all part of LIFE that is much bigger than any of us!

One night during this particular journey I came across an ad on commercial television (which I must admit to seldom finding myself watching) the question being asked: WHO/WHAT do I love in my life NOW? Where is my HEART invested?

Suddenly I became aware that this is the question Jesus keeps asking his listeners, US!

It is in the very experience of loving, ABUNDANCE OF LIFE, is to be received…..Isn’t this what is at the very core of Jesus’ MISSION here on earth, to lead us His followers into the very HEART OF GOD, who is LOVE ITSELF. We must LET GO and LET GOD!

The experience of Resurrection begins in the here and NOW of LIFE. Here we are given many opportunities to learn how to live it, and it is in the ongoing death of one’s EGO through LOVING that we learn the language/way of ABUNDANT LIFE.

OUR LIVES NOW are not a departure lounge simply waiting for the next life to come!

This most recent experience for me has been a cathartic time, and another moment in life to know God works in crooked lines, while we continue to search for straight paths!

I have been overwhelmed by the genuine concern, care given, gifts received and support shown by our wonderful Mt Carmel community, and not just to me but to the three of us Carmelites, Father Januario and Brother Matthew included.

For this I want to express a heartfelt THANK YOU.

I so often hear us talk at various Parish meetings of the need for us to ‘build community’. We already are a community, because fundamentally community means care and concern of each other.

Perhaps the challenge for all of us is to become more awake to what already IS and to receive the blessings, to celebrate with grateful hearts always, and to trust in God’s vision for us which is larger than any one person!
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Thank You
Fr. Wayne