Fr. Richard Leonard: "Where the Hell is God?: Holding to Faith Through Tough Times "

Summary

Fr. Richard Leonard tackles a profound question in his talk, 'Where the Hell is God?: Holding to Faith Through Tough Times.' The session delves into holding onto faith amidst life's relentless challenges. Through personal stories, including the tragic accident of his sister Tracy, Leonard challenges conventional notions of suffering and God's role in it. He emphasizes that God does not send evil or punishment but is with us in our suffering, urging a response of gratitude, forgiveness, and love. Leonard's mix of humor, theology, and heartfelt stories offers a moving exploration of a nurturing faith even when encountering profound loss.

Highlights

• Fr. Leonard shares his mother's crisis of faith following his sister's accident, questioning God's presence.
• Leonard humorously emphasizes better theology as a comfort, rather than old notions of God's punishment.
• His personal stories provide perspective on enduring faith despite suffering.
• Leonard challenges common perceptions of suffering, urging people not to see it as God's punishment.
• The emphasis on gratitude, forgiveness, and love as essential practices in difficult times.

Key Takeaways

• Tragedy doesn't diminish faith; it transforms it.
• God doesn't send suffering; He stands with us in it.
• Theology can evolve and provide comfort with better understanding.
• Humor and humanity help us process and heal from pain.
• Expressing love and gratitude can lead to personal resurrection.

Overview

Fr. Richard Leonard's talk, 'Where the Hell is God?: Holding to Faith Through Tough Times,' attempts to untangle the complex relationship between faith and suffering, using profound personal anecdotes. Leonard's sister, Tracy's life-changing accident serves as a poignant backdrop for exploring how misinterpretations of theology can deepen pain rather than relieve it. He rejects the idea of God as a punishing force, offering instead a vision of a compassionate deity who supports us in our darkest hours.

With wit and wisdom, Leonard reflects on the intersection of tragedy and belief, providing alternative theological insights. He stresses that God is not distant or insensible to our pain but actively holds us in moments of despair. His candid recounting of receiving both comforting and confounding support highlights the importance of offering genuine empathy and presence over platitudes during difficult times.

Conclusively, Leonard does not shy away from urging practical steps towards internal peace, advocating for gratitude, forgiveness, and love as pathways to resilience and spiritual renewal. By sharing his family’s journey openly, he encourages a reexamination of how faith operates amidst suffering, arguing that true understanding and compassion can transform and uplift even the heaviest burdens.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Final Session Introduction The chapter titled 'Final Session Introduction' focuses on one of the most important questions of faith, particularly how to maintain faith during tough times. The emphasis is placed on relationships, although not in a specific sense, hinting at their overarching importance in the context of faith. The speaker acknowledges the challenging moments in life when things don't go as planned, and highlights the significance of holding onto faith during such times.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Mrs. Smith Story In the story 'Mrs. Smith,' the narrative unfolds in a Catholic church where Satan makes an appearance, causing panic among the congregation. Everyone flees in terror except for the steadfast Mrs. Smith, who has occupied the same seat for 50 years. Confronted by Satan, who questions her lack of fear, Mrs. Smith calmly acknowledges his identity as 'the devil incarnate' and 'Satan,' yet remains unafraid. Her courage and composure in the face of evil highlight her strength of character.
• 01:30 - 04:30: Tracy's Accident and Background The chapter titled 'Tracy's Accident and Background' appears to begin with an intense and somewhat confrontational dialogue, possibly during a religious service or a gathering. It seems that one character is feared by many except for Mrs. Smith, who defiantly claims she is not scared of him, likening him to her brother-in-law whom she has been married to for nearly half a century. This interaction is followed by a reflection on humor and gender dynamics, particularly how women seem to respond more to the joke mentioned. This sets a tone that mixes serious themes with lighter, anecdotal observations.
• 04:30 - 11:00: Flight to Darwin and Initial Reactions The speaker discusses the importance of maintaining faith in a loving God amidst pain and suffering. This topic is significant due to a personal story involving the speaker's mother, who called at dawn on the speaker's birthday, October 24, 1988. This date and the call seem to have prompted reflections on their primary relationship with their faith.
• 11:00 - 20:00: Mom's Faith and Theology The chapter "Mom's Faith and Theology" begins with a seemingly ordinary day, where the narrator reflects on family birthday call traditions. However, this day takes a dire turn with an unexpected call from the narrator's mother, not for a birthday wish, but to deliver tragic news. Tracy, the narrator's sister, has been in a severe car accident. The mother requests the narrator or Peter, the eldest brother, to accompany her on a flight to Darwin to be with Tracy, who has a background of 12 years in Catholic education and had just commenced her career in nursing after graduation. The chapter sets a somber tone and highlights the family's strong faith and close-knit ties in times of crisis, reflecting the title's theme of faith and theology.
• 20:00 - 37:00: The Letters and Theologies The chapter titled 'The Letters and Theologies' narrates the story of a nurse, Tracy, who, three weeks after a significant event, decided to drastically change her life. She bought a one-way ticket from Australia to Kolkata with the intention to work with Mother Teresa in the house of the dying. Tracy wasn't interested in becoming a nun or joining the Missionaries of Charity, but rather wished to utilize her nursing skills to aid 'the poorest of the poor.' In 1981, Mother Teresa's work captured the global imagination, and Tracy found herself loving the work and the experience of nursing in Kolkata.
• 37:00 - 47:00: Speculative Theology and Evil The chapter discusses a woman's experience in India, where she lived for three and a half years. The Indian government eventually expelled her as she did not contribute economically, reflecting their growing discontent with Westerners who arrived to assist India's impoverished population. Upon returning to Australia, she took a job with the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart nuns in a remote area of the country.
• 47:00 - 65:00: Lessons from Tracy's Accident The chapter titled 'Lessons from Tracy's Accident' highlights Tracy's commitment and dedication to the Aboriginal community of Port Keats, a highly at-risk area in the Northern Territory. Tracy managed the Health Center while serving the Aboriginal people living in three settlements outside a white township. The narrative focuses on an event on Sunday, the 23rd of October, emphasizing the involvement of the local Aboriginal people.
• 65:00 - 74:00: Natural Disasters and Theology In this chapter, an incident involving local Aboriginal men and alcohol is described. After a local football competition, several of the men became intoxicated and were unable to drive. Consequently, three women and their eight children, all of whom were acquaintances of a person named Tracy, approached her at the Health Center. They requested Tracy's assistance to drive them back to their settlement area. Tracy agreed, and everyone crowded into her truck for the journey.
• 74:00 - 81:00: Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Love The chapter 'Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Love' begins with a journey that encounters an unexpected obstacle. During a 50-minute trip, a four-wheel drive vehicle inexplicably breaks down. Fortunately, the next passing truck offers a tow to their destination, which is closer than returning to Port Keats. The police report later highlights that the tow rope was likely too long, causing complications unbeknownst to the drivers. The chapter demonstrates themes of gratitude for the help received, the unforeseen challenges faced during the journey, and the importance of cooperation and understanding.
• 81:00 - 102:00: Telling Loved Ones and Conclusion In the chapter titled 'Telling Loved Ones and Conclusion,' the narrative revolves around Tracy, who experiences a mechanical malfunction while driving. The steering wheel locks unexpectedly as a result of a rope winding around the axle, making it impossible to steer the vehicle effectively. Despite the wheels functioning, Tracy faces difficulty negotiating the steering. Sensing something is amiss, she begins to apply the brakes to signal to the first vehicle that something has gone terribly wrong.
• 102:00 - 111:00: Closing Blessing and Thank You The chapter opens with a tense moment as a vehicle struggles against the pull of a much larger four-wheel drive. Initially, they do not stop, causing a dramatic scene where Tracy is close to slamming on the brakes. As the first vehicle maneuvers sharply, it takes a left turn. Tracy, closely trailing, navigates over a rope following them. The continued strain on the rope causes it to fray, and ultimately it snaps, marking a significant moment in the chapter.

Fr. Richard Leonard: "Where the Hell is God?: Holding to Faith Through Tough Times " Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 yeah our final session tonight I think is really one of our most important sessions because it really does start to focus um one of the big questions of our faith and it really comes down to how do we hold to Faith when times are really tough when things just go pearshaped in our life it's all about relationships and of course I love um sometimes you think you know well the PRI is going to talk about relationships okay well no I'm not really well not in any specific sense but but I do love the story of the
• 00:30 - 01:00 time that Satan made an appearance at the front of the Catholic church and everybody realized who his is and so they went yelling and screaming from the Catholic Church except for Mrs Smith she sat right where she sat for the last 50 years Satan goes up to her and says don't you know who I am oh I know who you are all right said Mrs Smith you're the devil incarnate you're Satan why aren't you frightened of Me no I'm not
• 01:00 - 01:30 frightened of you and to be perfectly Frank I wish you'd move off so we can get on with the rest of Holy Mass why aren't you frightened of me everybody else was frightened of me to which Mrs Smith says I'm not frightened of you Satan because I've been married to your brother for the last 49 years do you know that women do you notice that women laugh at that joke more than men but it can actually be gender reversed men if you're very Brave is all
• 01:30 - 02:00 I can say I want to talk to you then about our primary relationship for us the relationship of our faith and how do we hold to a loving God when we go through pain and suffering let me tell you the story of why I'm standing here wanting to talk about this tonight on the 24th of October 1988 my mother rang me at dawn that's my birthday the 24th of October but I don't come from a very demonstrative Irish Australian Catholic family we do not
• 02:00 - 02:30 call each other at dawn on birthdays in fact you're lucky if you've heard from my lot by the end of the day but as soon as I heard my mother's voice I realized this was not a happy birthday call Mom said Tracy has been in a terrible car accident overnight and I want you or Peter my eldest brother to come with me on the 9:00 plane to Darwin my sister Tracy had done 12 years of Catholic Education she then went nursing and as soon as she graduated as
• 02:30 - 03:00 a nurse 3 weeks later she bought a one-way ticket from Australia to Kolkata to work with Mother Teresa in the house of the dying Tracy didn't want to be a nun she didn't want to be a missionary of Charity she simply wanted to put her nursing skill at the poorest of the poor and in 1981 Mother Teresa caught the world's imagination in doing just that Tracy loved Kolkata she loved this sort of Nursing
• 03:00 - 03:30 and she was there for 3 and 1/2 years but a after 3 and 1/2 years the Indian government kicked her out because she wasn't earning any money in the economy and they were starting to get a bit sick of white westerners turning up to uh look after India's poor so she had to come back to Australia they wouldn't renew her visa when she came back to Australia she got a job with our lady of the Sacred Heart nuns and uh she got a job with them in a very remote part of Australia called
• 03:30 - 04:00 Port Kats Port Keats is then and was then and is now a very at risk Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory Tracy loved Port Keat she was there for three years looking after a couple of thousand Aboriginal people who live in three different settlements outside a white Township and she ran the Health Center on Sunday the 23rd of October the local Aboriginal people came in to Lo
• 04:00 - 04:30 play their local football competition and sadly when the canteen opened at about 3:00 in the afternoon a very few of the Aboriginal men got on the Grog they got on the booze and by 5:30 they were incapable of driving home so three women and their eight children who are all friends of Tracy came to the Health Center to ask Tracy if she could drive them back to their settlement area they all piled into her truck
• 04:30 - 05:00 and off they set on the Journey about 50 minutes into 40 minutes into a 50-minute trip her four-wheel drive inexplicably broke down the next four-wheel drive the next truck that came along the road now offered to tow them into the settlement area which was a lot easier and quicker than going back to Port Keats the police report concludes that the tow rope between these two vehicles must have been too long an unbeknown to either
• 05:00 - 05:30 driver Tracy was coming up doubling over coming up doubling over coming up doubling over the rope and it's winding around her axle I'm not a mechanic all I know is what happened next Tracy said the first sign that something was horribly wrong was that the steering wheel went into lock you just couldn't negotiate the steering the wheels were working but she couldn't negotiate the steering so she started to apply the brake to tell the first vehicle something gone horribly
• 05:30 - 06:00 wrong the first vehicle thought this was the pull of a much bigger four-wheel drive than their own they didn't stop she was about to slam on the brakes to make them stop when the first vehicle took a very sharp leftand Bend in the road and Tracy went over the Rope for the last time and the angle of incidence lifted her front axel off its wheels just slightly and then the Rope snapped it it frayed from all the pulling
• 06:00 - 06:30 and that started a momentum which saw Tracy's vehicle start to roll and Roll and Roll and bang right into a tree now thank God three women and their eight children got out of that vehicle without a scratch nobody broke a bone nobody had a head or internal injury nobody even got a cut that needed a stitch not so Trace she because we have
• 06:30 - 07:00 right- hand drives like the British in Australia she was on the right hand so every time it was rolling she was slamming down on the driver's side for us and then it slammed into the tree on the roof of the driver's side she was now pinned in the wreckage down on the floor with the entire mass of vehicle crushed like a can above her they had to get the jaws of life they had to get the emergency evacuation Squad and Philip the Doctor Who came with the team arrived at the scene to find eight
• 07:00 - 07:30 Aboriginal women sitting around a smoking wreckage wailing if you've ever been to my country and you've met our extraordinary indigenous people you will know that if you've ever heard Aboriginal women whale I think it may be somewhat true of American Indian people as well Native Americans um there's something so Primal something so ancient about the sound of grief for these people that it's quite
• 07:30 - 08:00 soul soul arresting it just grabs your heart and holds on to it well Philip told us that he cut right across the Wailing and said oh for goodness stake stop the Wailing why didn't someone get Tracy Leonard to this accident she's an excellent nurse from Port Keats and whoever is in here must at very least have terrible pain and she could have at least administered some analgesia why in God's name did you not get Tracy Leonard to this car accid
• 08:00 - 08:30 acent no one told Philip who was in there Tracy was conscious for the whole thing and Philip told us that it was then that he heard a voice inside the mangled wreckage say because I am Tracy Leonard from Port kichu idiot they cut her out they got her back to Darwin they rang my mother it was now 1:00 in the morning on the 24th of October my mother was on her own my mother was on her own because my brother was married with three children I joined
• 08:30 - 09:00 the Jesuits Tracy was in Port Keats mom was also on her own because at least by white Western standards in Australia she's had a pretty tough life I guess you see my mother was the 32-year-old woman the day that her 36-year-old husband went to work had a massive stroke and dropped dead dad had a berry aneurysm at the age of 36 and never came home mom was left they were only 8 years
• 09:00 - 09:30 married she was 32 she now had a seven-year-old Peter a 5-year-old Tracy and I was two the day that dad went to work and never came back I've grown up in a single parent family sometimes we hear an awful lot of rhetoric about kids in single parent families I'd like them to come and meet my mother we don't all end up
• 09:30 - 10:00 a disaster mom sat at our kitchen table drinking cups of coffee and smoking cigarettes on her own her theory was the boys May asleep all night I'm not sleeping there's nothing we can do till dawn I've always wondered how long and lonely that night must have been for her but she rang no one at dawn she rang Peter and she rang me at 9:00 I was the one who joined on the plane going to Darwin now it's hard
• 10:00 - 10:30 for some of you to understand just how huge Australia actually is but let me try if we picked up Australia and plunked it into the continental United States it goes from Los Angeles to Detroit from Vancouver to Mexico City you're wider where longer we're an island that goes from LA to Detroit from Vancouver to Mexico City so it's mainly desert there's only 22 million of us
• 10:30 - 11:00 but getting anywhere in Australia takes a fair while if you've traveled there you'll know what I'm talking about so to fly from Brisbane to Darwin is 4 and a half hours of non-stop flight there are two things I remember about that day and that flight to this day firstly it is the longest flight of My Life 4 and a half hours it's felt like 4 and a half weeks if you've ever had to travel anywhere to get bad news you'll know what that experience is like the day goes into slow emotion the second thing I remember
• 11:00 - 11:30 about that trip is Mom and I sat on that plane that night founding finding everything his hysterically funny we laughed at everything we laughed at the Captain's announcements we laughed at tea and coffee the flight attendant we laughed at the passengers if you'd been on that flight we would have found you hysterical and of course there was nothing funny on the flight we were simply warding off what we thought would be the worst case scenario when we got there when we did get to Darwin airport
• 11:30 - 12:00 our Northern capital in Australia well uh you had to walk across the tarmac in those days and there were so many habited and veiled Our Lady of the Sacred Heart nuns waving to us from the observation deck there were so many nuns you'd swear the pope was on the next plane coming in but when we got inside the sisters said look we won't tell you anything we'll take you to the hospital and 15 minutes later we arrived at the Darwin hospital and we were taken to Tracy's room it's amazing that details you remember on days of great
• 12:00 - 12:30 trauma Tracy's room was 5:5 I don't know why I remember that to this day but it was 55 we walked in and there we found trace and there we found the white sheet it came up to here and her arms were out an extension bed like that and she had two spikes now buried into a
• 12:30 - 13:00 skull right there I have never been able to look at a crucifix in the same way since oh boy it's amazing how experience changes symbols my sister was literally crucified on that bed but my mother's reaction was different to mine I was appalled not knowing exactly what the extent of her injuries were mom threw back the sheet and started doing a pressure point examination Tracy can you feel this Tracy can you feel that have you sensation here sense ation there and
• 13:00 - 13:30 with two big tears going down the side of her head right there Tracy said oh for God's sake Mom it's too late I'm a bloody quad the night before she broke her neck and crushed her spine she didn't get one other injury in that car accident and for the last 25 years so far she's had to be washed fed turned toileted and clothed she was was the most generous
• 13:30 - 14:00 woman I knew she did not sit on her backside in Australia saying well I can have a comfortable life she went to the poor of India in the house of the dying in Kolkata and the indigenous people of Australia to work for them and now she's the poorest person I know and it's got very little to do with money actually now there are many reactions to bad news flight and fight though among two of the most common Tracy says that between Mom and I she does know who beat
• 14:00 - 14:30 whom to get out of that room first we literally ran away wasn't that an extraordinary response Tracy's a quadr plgic and we ran away we got out into the corridor literally belting out of the room trying to take in this extraordinary piece of information and we were received by the Pastoral Care person a wonderful Our Lady of the Sacred Heart none who put us in a room on our own a little office and I sat in that office doing something I don't very much I shut up I said
• 14:30 - 15:00 absolutely nothing my mother's response was very different to mine I'd never seen my mother under this sort of pressure I don't remember the day my father died and Mom started pacing the room in the most angry defiant walk I have ever seen on a human being in my life and as she walked she started to ask questions and the first question she asked in that room that day haunts me to this day mom's first question
• 15:00 - 15:30 was where the hell is God now my mother is by anybody's Reckoning a devout Catholic mom went to mass at 5:30 this afternoon at St Thomas Moore's Catholic Church into wber Queensland Australia mom goes to mass every day at 5:30 in our local Parish Church mom will say the rosary tonight mom is a pillar of the parish she belongs to everything and sits in the second back row at the mass on
• 15:30 - 16:00 Sunday God forbid anyone sit in her seat I can tell you but when she most needed her faith to kick in she was only aware of God's absence rather than God's presence but then the questions tumbled out and they changed in tenor and tone mom started saying how could God do this to Tracy Tracy's the best girl in the world how could God do this to me like I I'm I was widowed at 32 I've raised you kids of my my own I've done the very best I
• 16:00 - 16:30 possibly could now I'm 56 and I've got a quadr plgic daughter what the hell does God want they were rhetorical questions of course she wasn't actually looking for an answer but I'm a Jesuit we think we have an answer for absolutely everything so I had to go at answering the question and I'm so pleased I did I don't know where it came from but I'm pleased I said Mom I cannot believe in a God who who sat in heaven last night saying I need another
• 16:30 - 17:00 quadriplegic and Tracy you're it now let's get a car accident happening for my will to be done I said if that's got what God's like if anyone can prove to me that's the way God works I am walking out of Christianity I am leaving the Catholic church I'm leaving the Jesuits and I cannot be a priest I cannot love that God I cannot and I do not know that
• 17:00 - 17:30 God and I certainly can't serve that God my mother turned on her heel and she said well actually my question was where was God and so far you've told me where he's not and I thought trust me to have a philosopher mother at this stage and so I had another go and I said Mom I only have one image right now we were crying very heavily for the terrible tragedy that had befallen Tracy and indeed had befallen all of us and I said I only have one image
• 17:30 - 18:00 Mom God is holding on to us right now in this room weeping with us that this terrible accident has happened to such a manifestly good person God is as devastated as we are that this shocking accident has happened with such a terrible result my mother didn't say a word but from that office within the next half
• 18:00 - 18:30 hour or hour we started to call our family and friends around Australia to tell them the terrible news of what had happened to Tracy and one of the people that my mother rang was her best friend who happens also to be her oldest sister my auntie Mercia some sisters have this wonderful relationship where there is best friends with each other as much as their sisters and Mercia and Joan certainly have this wonderful relationship but Mercia like my mother is not just a chronic Catholic she's a
• 18:30 - 19:00 terminal Catholic and Merc must have said down the line from tumba to Darwin she must have said oh Joan how could God do this to Tracy how could God do this to you and I heard my mother say oh Mercier I can't believe in a God who sat in heaven last night saying I need another quadruple I can only believe in a god Mercier who is as devastated as we are holding on to us and weeping with us and
• 19:00 - 19:30 even though we were still crying so heavily trying to come to grips with this awful awful news there were just a couple of Tears for me with Mom of great joy because I guarantee you that for my mother's 56 years of her Catholic life until 1 hour before she believed in a God who geta a God who lines you up and does you over and says there's your cross carry it come on I killed your husband at 32 now you're 56 you got a
• 19:30 - 20:00 quadriplegic daughter let's see what you're made of Joan Leonard come on get up get going let's see what you're up to I guarantee you that was her Theology and all I gave her an hour before was very different language that expressed a very different Theology and it made so much sense to Mom that she could give it out to her oldest sister and best friend as a corrective as though she'd believed it all her life
• 20:00 - 20:30 it's amazing how better theology can take I think frightening theology's place when it makes sense within weeks and months of following that accident we got some of the most frightening letters from some of the loveliest Catholics and Christians we knew I want to get really clear no one wrote trying to be cruel nobody wrote or contacted us or communicated with us trying to um upset us or add to our burden they really did
• 20:30 - 21:00 try to share the very best that they had it's just that what they said only added to our grief and pain rather than alleviating it people actually wrote letters and said Tracy must have done something terrible to offend God and God has had to punish her in this life so she yet might Merit heaven now she has to accept this punishment so she will get to her Eternal reward if you don't think that people believe
• 21:00 - 21:30 anymore that God punishes us on this Earth you're horribly wrong I'm sorry to tell you that that directly but you are very very wrong I cannot tell you how many people as a priest for the last 20 years I have encountered who believes that God has punished them by sending bad things to them and their family for some crime or some sin or some Dreadful misdemeanor the most surprising group are infertile
• 21:30 - 22:00 couples I do lots of weddings and I love doing them and sometimes as in the United States Australian couples have terrific trouble conceiving a child I'm absolutely astonished how many will say what have we ever done everybody else is having a baby why can't we have a baby why has God done this to us as though God is punishing them with infertility oh it breaks my heart just thinking about it the second group of letters were people who told us Tracy's suffering was sending beautiful building
• 22:00 - 22:30 blocks to heaven where she will have a mansion in the sky in theology we call this pie in the sky when you die theology now no one told me there was Beverly Hills in heaven no one told me there was first class business class and Coach class in heaven and the way that apparently you get either to the big end of town with the Glorious Mansions or you get to the pointy end of the celestial plain you should have to be washed fed turned
• 22:30 - 23:00 toilet and clothed every day for the last 25 years well if that's true heaven will be the first gate unlike LAX for me tonight where I will arrive and not be looking for an upgrade because I don't think I can do this of course there are no grades or classes or compartments or sections in heaven the old Baltimore catechism used to say did it not what is heaven heaven
• 23:00 - 23:30 is where we are eternally happy with God full stop end of story now it is true the Lord said there are many rooms in my father's house I go prepare a place um where I am you shall also be but they're metaphors for goodness sake we're not meant to take that literally there are not suburbs in heaven the third group of letters we got were people who wrote and said you're really very blessed I love how people who aren't going through your blessing know how blessed you are we didn't feel very
• 23:30 - 24:00 blessed and if anybody actually wanted to ask us how we actually felt we felt devastated we felt gutted our faith was so severely shaken and traumatized that it was hard even as a trainy priest to wonder whether I could keep going to be honest so I didn't feel blessed at all but we were told by these letters we were very blessed because remember God only sends the biggest crosses to those who can bear them have you ever heard
• 24:00 - 24:30 that one before let's think about that Jesu love working these three these things through logically God only sends the biggest crosses to those who can bear them if that theology is correct I don't know what your prayer life's up to but get on your knees morning noon and night with only one prayer I am a wimp I am a wimp I am a wimp oh God do not consider me strong in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen that's taken the place of my morning offering just in case they're right because
• 24:30 - 25:00 what's in it for us because if God thinks you're strong you're going to get a big cross so tell God you are a total wuss a wimp hopeless weak disastrous and then God won't send you a big Cross of course it's terrible theology in the first place it's just wrong theology I just just can't believe that the fourth group of letters we got oh I wanted to say one thing there you know some crosses are bigger than others all I know is our fames talked about
• 25:00 - 25:30 this in our family home with Tracy present in recent years if Mom and I had got to Darwin that day and the doctor said while you were flying up here Tracy died but had she lived she would have been a quadriplegic we would have taken her death as a horrible terrible Comfort Tracy a codr plgic my God she went to Mother Teresa she went to the the Aboriginal people you know could you
• 25:30 - 26:00 imagine Tracy of all people moving nothing from her neck down oh no we couldn't imagine it couldn't imagine it do you know what Tracy says when we've said it I would have found my death to be a comfort to the fourth group of letters we got were people who wrote to us and said mainly priests and religious who wrote to me saying my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not not your thoughts from the prophet Isaiah look that's good
• 26:00 - 26:30 Jewish theology but it isn't Christian theology if I hear a priest say this again at a very sad funeral I am walking out of the church because we do not have a God who is unknowable as the Christian God I thought the whole point of the Incarnation was God has come close to us God wants to reveal himself to us God loves us wants to be intimate with us I thought that was the whole point and so we can't just revert back to God being inscrutable and knowable and aloof
• 26:30 - 27:00 because the Going's got tough we've got to do better than that so I didn't find that consoling at all to be told that and then the fifth group of letters were people who wrote and said well it's all a mystery and we'll only find out in heaven now that's true the fullness of Revelation about suffering and pain in the world will only be known in heaven but all I know is in the last 25 years I've met a lot of people like me who have asked this question where the hell is God God as my mother did that
• 27:00 - 27:30 day and sometimes they were told oh it's all the mystery and we'll only find out in heaven and they walked out of the church and kept walking they could be your sons or daughters your grandchildren your best friends or neighbors former fellow parishioners as one once said to me if there's a god of love he doesn't love me so I'm Taking My Chances now and walking away so saying it's all a mystery and we'll
• 27:30 - 28:00 only fight out in heaven doesn't actually help all that much so if we can't say those things what can we say well I wrote this little book where the hell is God picking up my mother's question from that day which haunts me to this day and because I now work in universities and with adults um and I lecture in with adults then I know that from reading a lot of people won't pick up books that out of their Normal area of reading that they wouldn't normally read because they're too big too heavy and I'm not that interested in
• 28:00 - 28:30 fact the research shows us if it's over 20 over 30,000 words people won't even pick up the book it feels too big too formidable and I'm not that interested this book is 29,99 words I made myself write a book less than 30,000 words so therefore it doesn't say everything doesn't pretend to it doesn't cover every topic or go over every great Theologian it has ago at trying to hold to Faith in the face
• 28:30 - 29:00 of pain and suffering that helped me hold to Faith in the face of pain and suffering and the first thing I say in the book there we go is what you're about to hear is some speculative theology um the church has never hasn't got Dogma in this area it's never solved the problem of evil so we're in the area of theological opinion quite extraordinary to think of it if you if you will um
• 29:00 - 29:30 this most important area of our relationship to God and the church has no Dogma we're not bound to think in a certain way or to believe a certain set of precepts because the church has not solved the problem of evil and nor have I better Minds than mine have gone to work on this stuff and come up with very different conclusions and so can you you can reject absolutely everything you're about to hear you're fully entitled to but it doesn't let you off the hook because your family's and your friends will say to you as a Believer
• 29:30 - 30:00 well that happened how can you believe in a god of love well you better have something to say otherwise we've got nothing to say the first thing I say in this little book is God doesn't directly send or will pain death disease and suffering God doesn't punish us the word directly is very important here God cannot send you breast cancer he can't kill your kids he doesn't set up car accidents and doesn't send tsunamis how
• 30:00 - 30:30 can I be so confident about that assertion 1 john5 is a pretty good place to start that says God is light in him there is no Darkness you see we do not believe that God can send evil that means evil lives in God we do not believe there is evil in God there's a big difference between God permitting evil which the church believes and God sending evil which the church does not believe and we have been hopeless as Catholics on that distinction
• 30:30 - 31:00 everything's God's will you get cancer that's God's will your baby dies that's God's will your terrible car AC that's God's will too well it's not God's will for destructive deadly and diseased things to happen God is light in him there is no Darkness the other reason I believe this strongly is when you see Jesus in action he never sense plagues death disease or destruction on anybody he doesn't see a leper com to him who's only half a leper and he doesn't like
• 31:00 - 31:30 the look of them so he makes a a full leper for their trouble no one goes up with one bad leg and he gives them two bad legs because they didn't ask in the right way nobody walks away from Jesus in the New Testament worse off for the encounter that status quo is sometimes maintained and almost always they're better for the encounter so that's our God that's the face of God for the world that's our Christian Theology and it means sometimes we have to let go of some parts of the Old Testament and I
• 31:30 - 32:00 let go of them happily because we do not have a tyrannical God in heaven God the Father lovely Jesus and the bird that's sort of as rich as the Trinity gets for some people nasty God in heaven lovely Jesus and the bird no actually the Trinity is they save together they love together they create together and if you think that's trendy in Jesuit go to John's gospel the father and I are one I do nothing on my own to have seen me as to have seen the father so we don't have a nasty God in heaven
• 32:00 - 32:30 and lovely Jesus we have the human revelation of the heart of God in Jesus Christ if Jesus was not into death disease destruction and pain nor is God everything in the Old Testament then for Christians gets looked at in and through the definitive revelation of God in Jesus Christ that's Rock Solid Catholic theology you'd be forgiven for not knowing it until tonight but it actually is fundamental theology and be careful of anybody who ever sees
• 32:30 - 33:00 says that God has sent a disease as a punishment you know Diana Ross great singer but bad Theologian said in 1986 and I quote God sent HIV as a punishment to gay people for their sins well what about now 61% of the entire world's population who have or 61% of AIDS sufferers now a subsaharan African women and their children who got it from heterosexual ual transmission often rape and marriage
• 33:00 - 33:30 what are they M Ross what are they collateral damage for God to get the Gaze like this is terrible if you hear anybody say that God has sent a disease to punish any group or person then tell them the church's actual teaching which is that that's wrong the Catholic church does not teach that and we need with Charity but firmness to correct those who think that that Christian belief the second thing I say in the
• 33:30 - 34:00 book is that uh God does not actively will or directly send um accidents to teach us things though we can learn from them there are four things that my family have leared as a result of traces accident but it never makes the accident a good thing the accident always remains a bad thing but we've learned things as a result the first is the resilience of the human Spirit you know my sister is an extraordinary woman she is the person that most inspires me in my life and for
• 34:00 - 34:30 the last 25 years she's had an extraordinary story but she wrote her own book about 12 years ago which paulus press bought out 3 years ago here in the United States called the full catastrophe It's a Wonderful read there are people in the church tonight I know who have read this book and it's fantastic young people especially love it if you're at this stage looking for a Christmas gift this Christmas here you found what you're giving your young people it's fabulous about her life with Mother Teresa in Kolkata and her life
• 34:30 - 35:00 back in the Northern Territory with the Aboriginal people and it finishes the night of the accident that book sold 55,000 copies and particularly inspired other paraplegics and quadriplegics that if they can get if you can get through this maybe I can too the resilience of the human spirit is extraordinary how did she write a book voice activated computer computers it has totally changed disability she dictated an entire book it's a lot more complex than
• 35:00 - 35:30 that but that'll do for tonight the second thing that um I'm passionate about that I've learned since Tracy's accident is disability I am really passionate about the rights of the disabled now for instance before I came over here I was in a supermarket in uh Sydney in Chatswood in Sydney and uh I was walking through the car park and this guy came into the car park in the parking lot in a red convertible sports car did it have to be red convertible sports car but anyway he went straight
• 35:30 - 36:00 into the disabled car park right next to the door to the supermarket he jumped up and raced into the uh Supermarket I went up to the car there was no sticker there was nobody else in the car and he clearly wasn't physically disabled so I waited for him I'm now officially a stalker when he came back I said mate I'm just wondering why did you um Park in the disabled car park because clearly you're not physically disabled you might be mentally disabled but that's another question and you don't get a sticker for
• 36:00 - 36:30 that I don't think but I'm just wondering why did you what's it to you why don't you mind your own business mate I said oh this is my business my friend because I have a quadriplegic sister we put her in our van and we go round and round and around car Parks like this and we go home abandoning that days of activities because lazy self-centered people like you think that your agenda trumps everything and your 10 minutes that's in that store is worth everybody else's
• 36:30 - 37:00 inconvenience and then I run away because I'm not as stupid as I look oh but I get so passionate now about the rights of the disabled so passionate even from self-interest that should help us you know your country and my country are aging so you might be on a frame or you might be in a wheelchair yourself and on a cane so self-interest should be motivating us to keep this all fairly
• 37:00 - 37:30 passionate at the moment the third thing we learned was about euthanasia no one told us on the 24th of October 1988 we would be dealing with euthanasia my sister begged us to kill her begged us it wasn't one big speech she asked multiple times a day every day for three years I'm not even ashamed to stand here and tell you that after 3 years of the slow drip of being asked again and again and again to killed her I thought very seriously about it in
• 37:30 - 38:00 fact it's frightening how seriously I thought about killing my sister now I didn't obviously but I tell you I support the teaching of the church and the states prohibition on euth in Asia but for very different reasons now like it's not a heady moment for me anymore it's an affair of the heart when Tracy got over the three years of a chronic depression that she was going through at the time well she hasn't asked once in the last 22 years to be euthanased in
• 38:00 - 38:30 fact on six occasions she's had to fight for her own life with chest infections twice in intensive care and she's come back she's come to some sort of uh um agreement or some sort of conciliation with her life and in fact she's extraordinary and I find her the most inspiring person in my life and the fourth thing that I've grown and we've grown too is simply this don't say that this Mission wasn't practical and don't say it didn't deal with very base
• 38:30 - 39:00 things if you have never sat on the toilet and thank God for your bowel and bladder your prayer life is about to become a lot richer I want you to go home tonight and at the labatory next time you flush it I want you to say through Christ Our Lord amen if you don't go to the toilet in the next 24 hours could you please see your doctor but I'm really serious of all the things Tracy would want to get back it's not
• 39:00 - 39:30 her arms and legs first she says it's her Bell and her bladder if you've never thanked God that you can go to the toilet all on your own oh let's do no vener and benediction and high mass and sing Everything in Latin but if we're not praying on the toilet we're not serious we're not serious all I know is I have wept on the toilet because I Can
• 39:30 - 40:00 Go The Old Line holds true you don't know what you've got until it's gone the third thing I say in this book is God doesn't actively send earthquakes floods drats or other natural disasters in Australia for 8 years we had a drought we had seven-year-olds who had never seen rain could you imagine mention that 8 years we had a drought
• 40:00 - 40:30 they'd never seen rain and then when the drought broke we got a flood if God's a meteorologist he's a very bad one as far as I can work out so I've given up praying to God the weather man I think it's all nonsense and I can't tell you and monsia would no doubt be the same I cannot tell you how many people ask me to pray about the weather mainly Brides can you pray for a fine day from this Saturday Saturday please father and I say no I will not and then
• 40:30 - 41:00 to save the situation pastorally I say look whatever's happening outside the church it'll be raining love in the church but I just can't pray about the weather anymore I think this is ridiculous and God seems very bad at meteorology because we went from a drought to a flood like that couldn't we just have enough rain wouldn't that be enough wouldn't that be good so I think it's pretty crazy sort of stuff but it highlights a very important Point what are we doing when we
• 41:00 - 41:30 pray I'm absolutely convinced that a good number of Catholics do not pray to the God and Father of Jesus Christ they pray to Zeus they don't mean to pray to Zeus but effectively they do remember who Zeus was Zeus was the king of Olympus he was a nasty capricious God he could turn on a dime and you had to keep on his good side you did it three ways through prayer Penance and fasting does that sound Vue L familiar to any Catholic here we think we've invented this stuff
• 41:30 - 42:00 oh it's as old as religion to keep an Angry God on my side well actually that's not Catholic theology now don't get me wrong I think prayer Penance and fasting really matters but it doesn't change God it changes us because God is already on our side that's the revelation of Jesus Christ in the gospels last I checked so we can't get God more on our side God's on our side it's about us responding to that
• 42:00 - 42:30 extraordinary Amazing Grace in our life that's what it's about so prayer asks an unchanging God to change me to change the world prayer asks an unchanging God to change us to change the world and of all the things I said in where the hell is God this chapter I got the most negative feedback about not that people were nasty they were never nasty but they said I really disagree with you about praying for rain if you want to Pray For Rain keep praying for rain but I can't do it but then I wrote another book called why bother praying because I
• 42:30 - 43:00 think we've only been introduced to a small fraction of the church's great tradition on prayer and I think we could do much better than we do right now I think we need to think very carefully about God's will now don't get me wrong I believe passionately in God's will but in the big picture not the small and by that I mean we tend to talk about blueprint theology where you know somehow um God knows what I'm supposed to do with my life I don't know God's
• 43:00 - 43:30 got a blueprint or a sort of like a house plan for my life and I have to find out God's will well that ends up a bit of a game and we're told that God treats us maturely that God enters into a mature wonderful adult relationship with us well that doesn't sound like that to me so I think it's wrong I'm now absolutely convinced that God's will is in the big picture don't get me wrong I passionately believe in God's will God wants everybody in this church to be the most faithful hopeful and loving person
• 43:30 - 44:00 possible but how do the details work out I think God and us in our situation with time Talent education opportunity country blessed to be a US citizen blessed to be in Australian well we have extraordinary options that other people in this world could only but dream about so I passionately believe that with God then Discerning the best choices then it is to become the most passionate the most hopeful the most loving person possible and be careful of a couple of
• 44:00 - 44:30 throwaway lines sometimes we'll go down there uh near Ralph supermarket and there's a little Crossing there and you say you know the person who was run over in front of Ralph's the other day I was about to go in front of walk out onto that Crossing myself but for the grace of God go I well what about the poor bugger who got run over so I'm got a few questions about the old what about the gra except for the grace of God go I so don't we can say no we've always got free will to say
• 44:30 - 45:00 no to God's invitation we're never coerced we are invited um which I said if you were with me on Monday on the Feast of the Annunciation Mary could have said no to the angel but she said yes which makes that uh yes even richer and better and God's will I'm passionate about in the big picture and then God and I work it out together and of course we have to talk about Good Friday no question about that and God did not need the blood of Jesus to get happy with us
• 45:00 - 45:30 don't tell Mel Gibson this you know um don't get me wrong I loved bits in The Passion of the Christ it made $626 million I think it's number 24 of the top 100 grossing films of all time so Mel was on to something okay I concede that and I loved some things in that film I thought it was beautiful and some bits of it deeply moving but the god behind that film I toally reject it was an angry bloodthirsty God who the
• 45:30 - 46:00 more Jesus suffered the happier I get mind you we say about Mel Gibson every time he does something we like we say he's an Australian every time he does something we don't we say well he was born in Texas which is true grew up in Australia but he was born in Texas and it's not just what Mel put on the screen it's also what we sing I Love How Great Thou Art but except for now I don't ever sing the third verse when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die I scarce can
• 46:00 - 46:30 take it in well I can scarce take it in too I don't believe it you see I discovered in researching for this book that the Orthodox the Orthodox Churches I think are better on this question than we are they haven't had atonement Theory like we've had it for a thousand years they split before atonement Theory really took off and so they don't say as we do that Jesus came to die they say Jesus came to live and as a result of
• 46:30 - 47:00 the way he lived he threatened the religious political and social leaders of his day so much they put him to death you see I think Catholics asked the wrong question on Good Friday we tend to ask the question why did Jesus die which is all about getting an Angry God happy it seems to me I think the better question is why was Jesus killed that totally changes Good Friday and think about what God's
• 47:00 - 47:30 response to Good Friday is God's response to Good Friday is Easter Sunday God raised his son from the dead God wants nothing to do with death he raised his son from the dead so that we might all have a chance and an opportunity for life eternal ourselves I think that's stunning some people sometimes say to me oh we know you young trendy Jesuits yes we've got your number my goodness you want to just gloss over good Friday you don't take the passion of Our Lord very seriously you want a gloss over Good
• 47:30 - 48:00 Friday and get to Easter Sunday you want the joy joy joy and none of the pain pain pain and I want to say with respect to those people you come to my family for the last 25 years and you tell us we know nothing about a share in the passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ you come and tell us we know nothing about Good Friday and I want to say with respect to
• 48:00 - 48:30 some Catholics I think you are all lent and no Easter I think some Catholics are stuck on Good Friday and they haven't yet heard the joy of the Resurrection I'm in pretty good company with his Holiness Pope Francis I first I so wanted to be the first Jesuit Pope and now I'm going to have to be the second one God has to take some responsibility for
• 48:30 - 49:00 creating a world which is evolving and is imperfect and some of this we create for ourselves then we blame God I'd love a dollar for everyone who has said to me our father I used believe in God but what about the famines how does God let the famines happen and I think God looks at your country and mine and says why do you let the famines happen here are the facts 36,000 people died today of starvation of malnutrition and its effects 36,000 people died a town died today of
• 49:00 - 49:30 starvation in this world we have been able to feed everybody since 1957 these are not from me they're from UNICEF and the World Health Organization even though the world's population has trebled since 1957 we can feed everyone the terribly bad news my sisters and brothers is we choose not to we choose not to no wonder Pope Francis is calling the entire world to
• 49:30 - 50:00 look at the poor to really look at the poor you and I our countries 27% of the world's population who consume 80% of its resources isn't that unbelievable and then we turn around and say why does God let famine happen why do we let famine happen and as one small thing if you've let go in your family life of saying grace from before meals can you bring it back Grace is not Pious it's reminding us that people are starving we're eating
• 50:00 - 50:30 let's have the strength may this food give us the strength to create a better world for All God's Children everywhere and the final point I make in the book is God doesn't kill us off when I go near a nursing home people say oh Father why won't God take Grandma to which I say because Grandma won't stop breathing yet I don't actually say that I even have more pastoral care in me than that but I really want to say that because
• 50:30 - 51:00 it's okay when grandma's 96 we sort of say in the baseball or Cricket pons we say well she had a good Innings and that'll give us some comfort that we had her for a long time but what about uh a baby who dies I did the saddest funeral I've ever done in January of this year a couple I married 16 years ago for 14 of 16 years have been trying to have a child they've tried everything IVF the whole lot it all failed it was all a disaster and heartbreaking the mother was 42 last year the father 44 and out
• 51:00 - 51:30 of the blue they conceived twins every single scan was good Daniel was dead on day four and Emily was dead on day nine I baptized both of those children in the humidi cribs before they died with two little white coffins in that funeral in that uh uh that church try telling that Mom and Dad they had a good Innings and what we do say sometimes is things like well God must have needed another angel in heaven
• 51:30 - 52:00 so he's taken your baby home God does not kill kids to get Angels what a shocking image of God we were trying to be helpful well let's say what we mean we're trying to say your child is with God in heaven say that God doesn't kill kids to get angels and all I know is I wrote this in the book I have received 114 Letters At Last count
• 52:00 - 52:30 from women who wrote to me telling me I can't tell you how relieved and grieving over a baby I was because you're the first person who told me that that theology is not correct I was told that when my baby died well I'm pleased that happened what helped I've told you what didn't help what happened what helped I'll never forget Michael oconnell A friend of mine in Sydney took me out for dinner when I got back to Sydney after after being with my family for best part of a month after Tracy's accident and uh
• 52:30 - 53:00 he took me out for dinner I wasn't feeling particularly vulnerable and Michael looked at me over the dinner table and he said I have no idea what you're going through right now I can only imagine if it were my sister how I'd feel and I want you to know of my love and prayers and I burst into tears and I think he was the first person in a month who hadn't tried to give me a Pious platitude or tried to work it all out or theologically explain
• 53:00 - 53:30 it think about what he said I have no idea what you're going through right now powerlessness that's how I felt in the face of this terrible trauma we were powerless that was right I could only imagine if it were my sister how I'd feel solidarity not telling me how I was feeling or he knew how I felt trying to imagine how I felt solidarity and then
• 53:30 - 54:00 empathy I want you to know of my love and prayers and there was something about that that just triggered Great River of emotion I've been using a form like that ever since and if it helps you got it here for free tonight there are three other things that really came into play in the last 25 years of Tracy's accident the first is gratitude even even on the L I have jumped up steps two at a time I have
• 54:00 - 54:30 just I'm grateful I'm such a more grateful person than I've ever been and St ignacius loyala the founder of the Jesuit says the greatest prayer any of us can ever pray to God is simply to recognize the gift and the giver and say thank you if all your prayer is each day is thank you s ignatious would say that's the best prayer you could possibly utter the second thing that really has
• 54:30 - 55:00 helped in my family is forgiveness you know if you've been through traumatic moments in your family and there are a few who wouldn't have touched some of this then you know that some bad things can be said and some terrible actions can happen and they can rip families aunder and we had some pretty awful moments I'd have to say in the last 25 years when we're under such pressure and in fact we've got to be forgiving people don't tell some Catholic this but Jesus had next to nothing to say about sex in
• 55:00 - 55:30 the gospels that doesn't mean it's unimportant it is just a statement of fact that Jesus had next to nothing to say about sex in the gospels now maybe he knew the Catholic church was going to make up for him for the next 2,000 years so he didn't have to bother but apart from that the two sins that are greatest in the New Testament I'm not making this up these are analysis from Catholic New Testament Scholars the two biggest sins from the Lord are hypocrisy and those
• 55:30 - 56:00 who won't forgive hypocrisy saying one thing and doing another and those who will not forgive we're meant to be famous for our forgiveness are you a person who is famous in your family and friends and in the parish for your forgiveness we're meant to be famous for our forgiveness now it's not easy firstly we got to start with forgiving ourselves in my experience there's a moment where you've got to forgive yourself and it's hard
• 56:00 - 56:30 work sometimes but that's a good place to start secondly we do have to forgive others what did love story say in 1970 that great Hollywood love uh hit it said love means never having to say you're sorry well that might have been fine for Ryan and Ally but it's not the Gospel of Jesus Christ I can tell you it's exactly the opposite love for a Christian means wanting to say I'm sorry to those I've heard H and wanting to forgive those who have hurt me no one promised us that
• 56:30 - 57:00 Christianity was going to be a piece of cake and true Christian forgiveness is very difficult it it doesn't wash over hard words and bad actions St Augustine in the fifth century had a great line that I love St Augustine says forgiveness is like a mother who who has two wonderful daughters Justice and compassion I want to say that again isn't it a great line forgiveness is like a mother who has two wonderful
• 57:00 - 57:30 daughters called Justice and compassion we don't whitewash over bad thoughts and bad actions we hold people to account and exactly the same measure we're called to be compassionate oh boy this is tough but Jesus said it's at the heart of being his follower now St Ignatius was a wise man he said that sometimes you're not ready to forgive someone it's just too raw too much too
• 57:30 - 58:00 tough so he said the best that you can pray for is the desire to want to forgive them that's what you got to ask the Lord for please Lord give me even the desire to forgive that person now there are two people that have hurt me in my 50 years of life so deeply that I'm praying for the desire to get the desire to want the desire to forgive the buggers so go back as many steps as you need to and as as many steps as you'd like to but forgiveness is where we're
• 58:00 - 58:30 heading because that's what the Lord said and the third thing is that we are meant to be loving gratitude forgiveness and love that doesn't come as any surprise does it because the Lord said love your neighbor love God love your neighbor and love yourself I can remember when I was teaching high school at Xavier College in Melbourne Australia and uh this very one well very well known uh prominent attorney came he had his boys in the school and I was
• 58:30 - 59:00 teaching the second eldest boy um religious education Theology and dad and mom came to see me at religious educa on the parent teacher night and sat down and I remember this attorney turned it like into a courtroom and he thumped the table and he said father I'm appalled that I am paying all this money for this Jesuit education and my boy is 15 and he does not know the 10 commandments to which I looked up and I said well I have no idea why you can't teach him the
• 59:00 - 59:30 Ten Commandments at home you've got everything else on the fridge door why can't you put the Ten Commandments up on the fridge door if they're that important to you I said secondly if I might point out something to you the Lord took the negative ten commandments of what we shouldn't do and reinterpreted them in Mark chter 5 and said what we should do three things love God love your neighbor love yourself I said that's from the Lord and last I checked we're following Jesus say I'm all for the Ten Commandments don't get me wrong but the Lord himself went from
• 59:30 - 60:00 the negative Thou shalt not to what we should do love God love your neighbor and love yourself at which his wife turned to him and said I told you should you shouldn't take on a Jesuit he started it I finished it oh but I'm really serious love God we're good on love neighbor we're terrific on love self we've been a disaster the Catholic Church been hopeless on this because we got horribly confused between love of self and Adoration of self
• 60:00 - 60:30 they're not the same thing to adore myself is a pathology to love myself a healthy self-esteem is an entirely good thing so Pope Francis said recently that one of the best things about love of self is humility that's my experience of people who really love themselves they're wonderfully humble people actually I had an Irish grandmother if she thought that we were getting above our station as she used to put she used to say would you
• 60:30 - 61:00 drink your own bath water and kiss yourself good night which was her way of saying you're just getting a bit above your station well all I know is the Lord himself said love God love your neighbor as you love yourself let me finish the entire Mission by telling you a final story when I was in a senior in high school we were taken away on our our final School retreat by a wonderful priest father rayol a diois and priest and he gave us a bit out why am I afraid
• 61:00 - 61:30 to love to read and I remember that that part of that book said don't leave this world not having told the people that you love that you love them because at least in this life it'll be uh at least when they're dead in this life it'll be too late and if how you act towards them and uh you speak to them you show you love them saying it for a Christian should be a piece of cake now I told you at the beginning of this this presentation I do not come from a very demonstrative Irish Australian Catholic
• 61:30 - 62:00 Family we do not tell each other that we love you love you darling love you sweetie love you honey love you baby love you forever we don't do any of that not a scrap of it we have a very firm handshake for the men we have a peck on the cheek for the women I'm in my senior year at high school my mother has never told me that she loved me I've never said it to her I never said it to Peter I'd never said it to Tracy I came back from that Retreat on a Mission I'm telling my family that I love them I sat
• 62:00 - 62:30 down and wrote to my brother working into State my sister working with Mother Teresa in Kolkata dear Peter dear Tracy I just want to tell you something I have never told you before I love you I've never heard back they have never replied to those letters at least not to me that left my mother I stayed in on Saturday night and tonight's the night I'm going to tell Mom that I love her and I was so nervous
• 62:30 - 63:00 in my bedroom in our family home my heart's gone boom boom boom my tummy's going ch ch you'd swear I was about to ask my mother to marry me I was so nervous and I plucked I said man up get out there and do this come on this can't be this ridiculous this is absurd get out there and tell your mother that you love her this is all my self talk so I got out into the uh into the lounge room and mama is watching the national news on the ABC at uh at 7:00 and she's watching the news and I said Mom I have something very important to tell you she
• 63:00 - 63:30 didn't take her eyes off the television oh yes what's that I said no no no no it's really important I have never told you this before tonight and I need to tell you something very important right now tonight and with that she fumbled for the remote and by the way she did it I could tell there were now two hearts going boom boom boom boom boom two tummies going CH 20 years later my mother was to tell me oh my God she said I remember that night like it was last last night she said I thought you were about to say one of two things my mother thought I was
• 63:30 - 64:00 about to say mom I've got a girl pregnant or Mom I'm gay so apparently she's sitting there saying to herself whichever one it is keep calm keep calm keep calm I plucked up my courage came straight out with it and said Mom I just want to tell you I love you she thought it was the warm-up act for the big news yet to
• 64:00 - 64:30 come so she looked up and she said is that it and I said oh yes before I died I wanted to be able to say I told my mother that I love her and I do I love you Mom and I wanted to be able to say that she said oh my God you're not terminally ill are you and I said oh no I hope to die as an old man but no I just wanted to tell you that I love her and such was her relief she looked up and she said oh God I hope hope so and turn back on the
• 64:30 - 65:00 television and I went back to my room going I don't think it was supposed to go like that there were no swooning violins she didn't we didn't fall into each other's arms she didn't say oh thank God one of you three in greats has turned up at long last to tell me I'm lovable no that didn't happen do you know what did happen my brother and my sister wrote to my mother saying we've had these very weird letters from him and apparently my mother wrote back and said oh bully for you I've had it all in
• 65:00 - 65:30 person but she said oh don't worry it's obviously a phase he's going through hopefully it's a phase I will never get over but let's get clear on a couple of things can we stop telling people that we don't love that we love them you don't have to love anyone actually you do not have to love your husband and wife sadly but true you do not have to love your kids and they don't have to love you and you don't to love your parents either you don't have to love
• 65:30 - 66:00 anyone and it isn't about a feeling 1 John 1:3 love is in Deeds not words people can say they love people till the cows come home love you love you sweee love you darling love you Mom love you Papa okay but if we speak to people badly and we treat them with contempt we do not love them so let's stop telling people that we don't love that we love them let's get clear on who they are if you want to
• 66:00 - 66:30 work out who you love ask one question for whom would you die in my experience that shortens the I love you list considerably and if your dog or cat is on that list you need therapy immediately not that we can't enjoy our pets don't get me wrong yes we can but if you're taking a bullet for phyter we're in Strife cuz all I know is this my mother is now 80 years of age and for 24 years for 24 years she's nursed my sister at home she gets up at midnight 3:00 and 6:
• 66:30 - 67:00 a.m. every single night for the last 24 years and turns my sister so she doesn't have bed sawes midnight 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. let's talk about canonization right now oh when I become Pope dick the first from Australia my sister's there and so's my mom I'm telling you because all I know is they've never told each other that they love each other and
• 67:00 - 67:30 maybe they don't have to because they screamed at each other at midnight and 3 and 6 but for the rest of us what's not a bad way to go to Easter let me leave you with this simply three things don't say this Mission wasn't practical be grateful be
• 67:30 - 68:00 forgiving and work out who you love and don't leave this world not having told the people that you love that you love them because when you do Easter happens in your own life amen
• 68:00 - 68:30 fantastic thank you Father Richard for bring us close to Christ I have a little gift for you I have a rosary from John Paul II I have a few of them and I want
• 68:30 - 69:00 to give this rosary that you can keep us in prayer in communion with one another a little medal to you and as a pastor I consider myself a producer of this Parish a director and then I have the actors and that they make happen I have a good news for you I have asked father to come back again next year and so and he has accept our our invitation so we look forward to see him hopefully
• 69:00 - 69:30 before Easter just to prepare ourselves for for the Feast of Resurrection thank you Father gra I will say in Italian it's been a great joy and an honor to be with you and the worst thing that can happen next year is that you can say well he was good last year I want to finish the entire Mission by blessing you which is what priests do best May the road rise up ah it's a bit
• 69:30 - 70:00 too high May the road rise up to meet you May the wind be ever at Your Back May the sun shine warm upon your face May the rains F soft upon your fields and until we meet again may God hold you in the hollow of
• 70:00 - 70:30 his hand and until we meet again may God hold you in the hollow in the hollow of his hand and may almighty God bless us all father
• 70:30 - 71:00 son and holy spirit amen thank you very much God bless we want to wish father Rich a very safe trip to Australia this evening there's a pizza out waiting for you and wine and beer and everything else God bless