Notebook
On a recent episode of RTÉ’s Operation Transformation, one of the people featured made incredible strides in improving her health and losing weight.
She joined a weekly walking group and looks forward to the meeting each week. I hope I am not doing her a disservice, but I think she described it as “the new Mass” – where people meet, chat, spend time together and share a common interest.
This woman benefited greatly from her involvement and is to be commended but something about the phrase seemed odd and yet, she was speaking a truth. Though TV cameras were present and consequently the attendance possibly inflated, the number and enthusiasm of people sharing this “Mass” moment was breath-taking. Of course, this is to be encouraged and a lesson can valuably be learned by us all about the need to make some effort to keep fit.
Workouts
For many, fitness, workouts, exercise and all that goes along with these have reached the level of religion. People who might easily miss Mass on a Sunday would not consider, even remotely, the possibility of missing a fitness session or a visit to the gym. Indeed, many people now, on moving to a new place, list among their priorities the need to locate and join the nearest gym! Gone are the days of houses for sale being advertised “close to church, school and shops”!
I met a young man recently, and he told me that he runs every morning before work. “If I don’t do it then,” he told me, “I know I would not do it and I feel guilty that I haven’t made the effort.”
Again, what is being said here? Why is it that we can so easily miss going to church, without giving it a second thought?
I dabbled with an Operation Transformation moment myself and went to the local Community Centre to join in a walk – I was the only man! A woman said to me “where is your high-vis?” and, though I have several of them, I hadn’t worn one. Everybody else had one on so I figured I’d be safe within their brightness and it was 11am. There was, however, a justifiable expectation, that I would be appropriately dressed to join the group. People know what is required and are happy to share that knowledge and expectation with others.
For many, fitness has reached the level of religion”
All this makes me wonder about our Church and about the possibility of an ‘Operation Proclamation’ where we could harness like-minded people who have a sense of urgency around sharing God’s Word. The woman’s description of the Mass, though I may be paraphrasing, was on the ball – “where people meet, chat, spend time together and share a common interest”. Our Church is meant to be a place where we notice the person without the ‘high-vis’ and encourage them to make right choices. When maybe that choice isn’t made or temporarily ignored, we offer the shelter of our own ‘high vis’ to ensure they walk in safety and know support.
There is also something about a healthy balance, a sort of spiritual diet and spiritual exercise that are at the heart of our Faith and there is certainly a call to be the better self and to be grateful to those who offer us advice for the journey.
We seem not slow to seek out and take advice on physical fitness and well-being so maybe ‘Operation Proclamation’ might encourage us to seek spiritual guidance as well and to not be afraid to encourage others to be involved.
Most of this will take place far away from the glare of cameras but that is good too. The camera could never fully reach to the depth of the soul or the inner journey that Faith requires. There is, however, a place for encouragement, for invitation and maybe even for challenge. Maybe it is the one place in life where we would benefit from gaining weight – spiritual weight!
There is a church near you! There are people there who wish to spend time, share time, be nourished through Word and Eucharist and make a difference. Perhaps we could say it’s a gem!
Operation Proclamation!
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A man of his word
Recently I watched a very good movie on the life of Pope Francis called A Man Of His Word. I was very taken by his words at the Holocaust Memorial where he reflected on God seeking Adam in the Garden of Eden. “Adam, where are you?” he asks.
In a time of increasing violence in our own country, his words were chilling: “Adam, who are you? I no longer recognise you. Who are you, o man? What have you become?
“Of what horror have you been capable? What made you fall to such depths? Certainly, it is not the dust of the earth from which you were made. The dust of the earth is something good, the work of my hands. Certainly, it is not the breath of life which I breathed into you. That breath comes from me, and it is something good.” (Gen 2:7)