January
Fr. Michael writes….
A word from Bacup’s Windermere
“ ...when a jangle of discordant bells and a blast of hooters told us that the new year had come they stumbled to their feet and looked at one another with the manifest belief on all their faces that in some way at which they could not guess, this year would be different.... “ So wrote Howard Spring describing a Watch Night Service in “Fame is the Spur“. Is it true? Can the change of date on the calendar have such an effect ? Maybe we believe it for an instant on New Year’s Eve as we welcome another year with merry roistering and perhaps through an alcoholic haze. The truth is, of course, that if we remain the same kind of folk we are now, there is little hope of any change. Some words from the Abbe Michel Quoist might give us some idea of how to begin to change: “For a few moments each morning, place yourself before the Lord, and in the obscurity of faith, welcome into your own life all that you are to meet that day“. In the evening , do that in reverse. See whom you have met. How far were you in sympathy with them?
If we are to be so, we need three things . First, attention. It was said of Archbishop William Temple that he might be able to spend only a few minutes with you but in that time he gave you his full attention. A few minutes of that is worth an hour with people who are thinking about something else or waiting impatiently to pounce in with their own comments.
Then we need imagination to have some understanding with folk whose lives are fraught with difficulties. NEVER say “I know how you feel“. You don’t and in the nature of things you never will. But by reading and observing and viewing you may come to some measure of understanding. Finally, we need courtesy. We can’t rush in with sympathy. The proverb says “the heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger doth not meddle with the joy thereof“. We must be content to wait, to stand by, simply to be there. This is two thirds of what sympathy is, and it can mean and help much more than many words.
Individuals and, indeed, churches have, alas, a tendency to self –satisfaction. Is 2016 going to be a change for the better? Only if the first change is in us!
May God give you His blessing and watch over you in the coming year
Father Michael.