That the human family may learn to respect ...

Bulletin for August 2008

Sunday Mass Times

0730 Mass in Thai
0930 Mass in English

Weekday Mass Times

18.00 Mass in Thai in Chapel of Building 3
18.00 Mass in English in Chapel of Building 2 [when there are English-speaking retreatants]

Intentions of the Holy Father - Pope Benedict XVI

AUGUST

General: That the human family may learn to respect God's plan for the world and become ever more aware that Creation is God's great gift.

Mission: That the answer of the entire people of God to the common calling to holiness and mission may be promoted and fostered by means of careful discernment of charisms and constant commitment to spiritual and cultural formation.

 (Please remember these intentions in your prayers)

Some Feasts in August

Friday 1^st                St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, Founder of the Redemptorists
Saturday 2^nd        Blessed Peter Favre, First Companion of St. Ignatius Loyola
Wednesday 6^th     The Transfiguration of the Lord
Friday 8^th              St. Dominic, Founder of the Dominicans
Saturday 9^th         St. Edith Stein, Martyr
Sunday 17^th         Celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (from 15th)
Monday 18^th         St. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, S.J.
Weds 20^th              St. Bernard
Weds 27^th              St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo
Thursday 28^th     St. Augustine of Hippo
Friday 29^th           The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
Saturday 30^th      Ss.Margaret Clitheroe, Anne Line, & Margaret Ward, Martyrs

Other Dates in August

Sunday 3^rd           World Communications Day
Tuesday 12^th        Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday

In September

Wednesday 3^rd    St Gregory the Great
Thursday 4^th       St. Cuthbert
Monday 8^th          Birth of the Virgin Mary

Collection

The Sunday Offertory Collection for the month of June was 32,870 Baht. We thank you for your very generous support of the mission & outreach of The Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre.
 

The Seven Fountains Community Directory to be brought up to date

If you are a Seven Fountains ‘regular' and wish to be included in the new Directory kindly fill in the form attached to this Bulletin and give to Fr. David.

Only names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses are included in the Bulletin, NOT home or office addresses.

Meditative/Contemplative Prayer Experiences you can download

Examen the bubbles:  Paul Campbell SJ of Loyola Press just launched a new website called www.Other6.com Based on St. Ignatius' Examination of Consciousness, it asks the user to respond to two questions: "Where have I found God today?" or "Where do I need to find God today?". These are graphically represented as bubbles, where one can read one's own and other's comments.

LIVE SIMPLY: An interesting web-site:  livesimply is a challenge to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people in poverty. www.progressio.org.uk/livesimply/AssociatesHome2/92990/livesimply/

A dream of love
We all dream dreams.  The dreams we dream in the light of day are what make us who we are.  In our daydreams we think how we would like things to be; how we would like to be ourselves; how we would like others to be.

These dreams keep us going when reality gets hard to bear; these dreams inspire us when nothing else can; they shape our lives, for better and worse.  Choosing a career, choosing a partner, choosing clothes and food - all are influenced by what we dream.

Yeats wrote a love poem which includes the lines:

The young man in the story of the Prodigal Son has a dream of independence and freedom.  His dream is so strong, he feels impelled to follow it - and ask for his share of the father's estate before that share is due.  The father responds in a way that is both generous and prudent; he does indeed 'tread softly' on his son's dreams.

Gradually the dream is revealed to be hollow.  Then, finding himself out of touch with the only thing he has of true worth, the love of his home and family, the young man knows real unhappiness.  His disillusion is from within himself, not forced on him by the father.  It is slow and gradual; but in place of the dream he has lost grows another dream - to return home.  No matter how reduced his position there might have to be, he dreams of home, and his dream becomes the long journey back.

The dream of God's loving kindness awaiting us is a deeply rooted dream.  We must tread very gently.  Whatever their dream we must be careful not to replace it with disillusion and emptiness.  In sharing our dreams with each other, we are enriched.  The dream of God's welcoming kindness is a dream to nurture and cherish in each other and in ourselves.

We don't want to spoil this dream by anything we say or do that might diminish another's confidence in God's goodness.  By our kindness, by our acceptance, by our compassion, by our understanding, we nourish the dream; and the dream lives and grows until one day we wake into the glorious fulfilment of all our dreams: life united completely with God and the fulfilment of all we can ever desire.

The Prodigal Son grows up through his mistakes.  His Elder Brother has yet to grow up and appreciate the love of home and family - and make his own contribution to it.

Peter Knott SJ at   http://www.jesuit.org.uk/godtalk/godtalk_current.htm
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Heroic Leadership:
Best Practices from a 450-year-old Company that Changed the World

Chris Lowney
Loyola Press, Chicago, 2005
336 pages
ISBN: 978-0829421156

Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-year-old Company that Changed the World is an intriguing, beautifully-crafted book that captivates from the very start. It is full of insight into the business world, but with enormous love for, and understanding of, the Jesuits.  Drawing from real-life examples of leaders such as Attila the Hun and Machiavelli's Prince, the travesty of true leadership is so obvious that one is left wondering why anybody could have missed the obvious: that leadership is found in the exercise of four unique values: self-awareness, ingenuity, love and heroism.  

The entire book is concerned with demonstrating four principal Jesuit contributions to true leadership:
-         We're all leaders, and we're leading all the time, well or poorly.
-         Leadership springs from within. It's about who I am as much as what I do.
-         Leadership is not an act. It is my life, a way of living.
-         I never complete the task of becoming a leader. It's an ongoing process. (Emphases are the author's.)
_____________________________________________________

The New Jesuit General -:
Part Two: Has spirituality been replaced by ideology?

Adolfo Nicolás SJ
 
In an exclusive interview given recently to the editors of Jesuit journals, Father Adolfo Nicolás, the new Superior General of the Society of Jesus, talks of the challenges now facing the Church, the Society and him personally. In this second of three parts, Fr Nicolás talks about the quest for justice, its connection with faith and spirituality, and the difference between the Western and the Eastern understanding of these issues.

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20080625_1.htm

The New Jesuit General
Part Three:  Is there too much diversity in the Society, or in the Church?
Adolfo Nicolás SJ 
In an exclusive interview given recently to the editors of Jesuit journals, Father Adolfo Nicolás, the new Superior General of the Society of Jesus, talks of the challenges now facing the Church, the Society and him personally. In this third and final part, Fr Nicolás talks about how the Society and the Church can maintain a real communion, speaking, listening and improving its pastoral service, in a diverse and fast-changing world.
http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20080702_1.htm
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New Scripture Series
Starting on Tuesday 23^rd September Fr. David will start a series of New Testament talks regarding ‘Living Christ’s Life in the World’.
These will continue every Tuesday evening Fr. David is at Seven Fountains.
Kindly let him know if you are interested in joining the group.

To help deepen your grasp of your Christian faith

THE HEYTHROP INSTITUTE FOR RELIGION ETHICS AND PUBLIC LIFE www.heythrop.ac.uk/HIREPL

Thinking Faith is a free on-line publication. There is no regular "issue date" - instead, articles are added at any time. 'Subscribing' to Thinking Faith is simply a matter of giving us your email address, then we will send you a message whenever a new article is added.

Subscribe to these Thinking Faith alerts using Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla

Coffee after the 09.30 Mass

You will see that coffee has very kindly been provided for us by certain generous members of the Seven Fountains Community after the 0930 Mass on Sundays. This is a great time to chat and get to know members of the Seven Fountains community. The coffee is also delicious! Do join us - we look forward to meeting you.

PURPOSE: QUIET MEDITATION.  THE PRAYER GROUP WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO QUIET MEDITATION FOLLOWING ANY ONE OF MANY TRADITIONS: JESUS PRAYER OF THE EASTERN CHURCH, JOHN OF THE CROSS, THE METHOD OF JOHN MAIN, OSB, CENTERING PRAYER, ETC.

                    THERE IS NO ONE WAY, THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY. JUST PRAY.

Modern Tourism: A call for justice. A call to the churches

Most churchgoers would understand why churches, in the name of justice and peace, respond to issues such us landmines, war and conflict, refugees, drought, hunger, and so on. But tourism?   

Twenty five years ago churches, Catholic and protestant, from the Philippines, India, Thailand , Fiji, the Caribbean , Kenya, and from other regions around the world, came to the realisation that tourism was becoming a serious threat to vulnerable communities. They established the worldwide Ecumenical Coalition On Tourism (ECOT) which is now based in Chiang Mai.

The size of the tourism industry is massive with its outlays presently estimated at around 10 percent of global GDP! The prospect of a billion people travelling for holidays and leisure – in a year - is now well within sight. Just imagine the impact of this!

Behind the well-known glittering images of tourism, is the other face, the underside of the industry. The vast numbers of travellers do not travel as spirits but as human beings carrying a baggage of attitudes, expectations, and demands, some of them unacceptable but met because of poverty, powerlessness and ruthless interests. For instance, one of the offshoots of ECOT was ECPAT that works against the phenomenon of child prostitution. 

The tourism industry as structured today is a factor in third world poverty. This occurs in many ways including through:
• the diversion of resources such as land, water, etc for golf courses, resorts, and so on.
• prostitution and trafficking of women and children.
• ecological damage through inappropriate tourism enterprises and development.
• the threat to cultural identity of local and indigenous peoples.
• health hazards through HIV/AIDS, drugs etc
• climate change concerns though air travel and destruction of natural resources.
• displacement of people and loss of livelihood on account of tourism development.
• revenue lost through tax concessions, subsidised land, repatriated earnings, low wages.
• human rights violations.

Such is the ‘footprint’ of modern tourism. We would have ourselves seen some evidence of this as we move around. In different parts of the world today there are situations of tourism becoming an arena for community, social, political, and even physical violence, and hence a threat to peace.  

There is another dimension – one which relates to the integrity of creation. The tourism industry thrives by marketing nature – the sun, sea, mountains, rivers, landscapes. However what we get from it is ‘sun, sand and sex’ tourism with its unhealthy connotations – not what God intended.

ECOT is not about abolishing tourism but in the light of the above it is an issue for the churches. Through ECOT churches are enabled to question and critique tourism’s directions in the light of the gospel. We need your support through prayer. We also look forward to your contact.
Caesar D’Mello, Director, Ecumenical Coalition On Tourism

Caesar D’Mello worships at Seven Fountains. To contact ECOT for materials and other information, write to Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla ,  Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla or look up www.ecotonline.org  ‘Transforming Re-Forming Tourism’ has just been published to mark the 25th anniversary of ECOT. It has insights from around the world, and is available at ECOT.

Would you like to receive this bulletin via email? If so, please contact Pippa who will add you to the contact list.
If you have anything you would like to be included in the September bulletin please send an email to Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla   or call mobile phone: 0812882210

We are looking for contributors. Have you got something you would like the Community at Seven Fountains to know about? A special anniversary or wedding? Just send the notice in, and we will include it.

Laus Deo Semper