Newsletter - 16 July 2023
“SUMMERTIME
AND THE LIVIN’ IS EASY”
The above line is from George Gershwin’s well-known song Summertime. Summer is a time when we hope that living will be easy, or at least easier than the rest of the year.
For the gardener, summer is the time between planting and harvest, a time of less intense labour but requiring special attention to watch over and care for the growing garden. For children and many adults, it is time away from school or work, time for rest and leisure, for vacation and travel.
There is lots of potential for easy living, but summer is not simply a time to lay back and let it happen. Something is asked of us to receive the special graces of the season. Here are a few thoughts to consider this summer.
What is right with the world? G.K. Chesterton’s book ‘What is Wrong with the World?’ asks a question that seems to preoccupy us — listen to any news report. Chesterton believed that one thing very wrong with the world is that we rarely ask what is right with the world? Summer is a great time to ask what is good, true, and beautiful in our world. It is a time to give thanks for all we have been given to live a good life. Could it be that we will come to an even better life as we learn to be more appreciative of what is right in our world?
Leisure to enjoy: It is not enough to just ask what is right about the world. We also need leisure to seek and enjoy its wonders. It might surprise you to learn that the Latin word for leisure is scola, from which we get the English word “school”. You might not want to say this to your children but summer is a good time to go back to school, not school as usual where we work at acquiring skills and competence, but scola where we leisurely learn to enjoy the good and beautiful things of our world. It is not a matter of just relaxing or chilling out. To really enjoy our beautiful world we need to give our full attention to the wonders that surround us each day.
Finding God in all things: Lest you think this counsel for an easy summer will conclude without a word about God, consider St Ignatius’s motto. God can be found in all things, because God has created all things in love. As we learn to see and love “all things” as God sees and loves them, we also “find God.”
May you be richly blessed this summer with many graces of “easy living!”
Deacon Ted Wood ccn
Focus of the Week
KNIGHTS OF SAINT COLUMBA NATIONAL RELICS TOUR 2023 COMING TO THIS PARISH!
On Wednesday 19 July, the Relics of St Columba, St Margaret and St Andrew will be coming to the Parish along with the Fraternal Cross and the St Columba Cross (pictured below). This is part of a National Tour of the Relics and we are very honoured to be able to bring these Relics to our Parish and allow Parishioners to venerate them.
The Relics will remain in the church for the whole day.