Godzone

New Zealanders have an ambivalent attitude to God. On one hand we often call our country "Godzone" which is typical Kiwi shorthand for "God's Own Country." I think it was originally called that because it had a temperate climate, fertile soil and no snakes, poisonous insects, or dangerous mammals. It was so safe that even many of our native birds WALK rather than fly . And our National anthem is "God defend New Zealand.' (Written by a Catholic priest!) On the other hand New Zealand and Australia have been called the most secular countries that have ever existed. All other cultures have had a god or gods, even if it was the sun or an idol, and some are secular now but have had a lingering history of religion of some kind. But we have no background of that sort, although many of the earlier settlers were missionaries. I would say most Kiwis are totally uninterested in religion, not anti, just not interested. Which makes our nickname and National Anthem even more surprising.

Missing Mass

Our lives have been frantic this last week with family members coming and going in quick succession. As a result I was not able to go to daily Mass as I usually do 3 days a week and my prayer time was severely shortened. And how I miss it! As my last visitor left I spent a few moments, not praying but just sitting in the presence of God and feeling how far I had drifted away from Him in those few days. Mea Culpa.

Thomas

At Mass this evening we had the story of doubting Thomas and Alex and I were discussing it on the way home. Alex said he could quite understand why Thomas didn't believe the disciples had seen Jesus. As any Kiwi would say (sarcastically) "Yeah, right!' I agreed that after you'd seen a man killed and buried you would be doubtful. But I love that Thomas grasped the truth even clearer than the other disciples when he said "My Lord and my GOD!" I'm not sure even the other disciples had come that far...yet (though I'm not a Bible expert). For a Jew, to say someone was GOD was unthinkeable, yet Thomas said it.

I love whispering this prayer at the consecration and have done since I made my First Communion at 6 years old. I'm sure he dropped on his knees when he said it.

I love Thomas.

Alleluia!

Alleluia! He is risen!

There is nothing else to say.

Lacking Courage

Our 3pm Good Friday service was wonderful, very moving and very crowded. At the Veneration of the Cross our priest said that if we wished to, we go forward in bare feet. I had never heard of such a thing before, and no one around me made a move to take their shoes off. I thought it was a wonderful idea and so fitting to humble oneself before the Cross, but I lacked the courage to do it on my own. I was already back in my seat before the last people filed up, and they were led by a group of Indian ladies who were all bare feet, and lots of the people behind them had been emboldened to do the same.

I felt disappointed with myself, if I had taken my shoes off maybe others would have had the courage too.

Next year...

Good Friday

It's so near, Good Friday. My thoughts are with Him who loves us enough to die for us. I once read that "if" the perfect man came into the world OF COURSE we'd kill him. It's what we do as humans, we destroy or pervert God's wqonderful gifts. He gives us delicious food to enjoy, and we become greedy, He gives us the joy of sex and we pervert it in every way we can, He gives us the power to create other humans and we kill them before they're born. I could go on, is there any end to the list?

But he loves us, weak and sinful as we are (well I am anyway). So Good Friday is to me a day of sorrow, repentance, awe and joy. He loves us THAT much. It is very near.