Nicky’s Blog

It was  a really joy-filled day yesterday when we learned of the special honour bestowed on our brother, Fr Paul Mercieca CP.   Papua New Guinea has retained the British Honours which are awarded on the Queens Birthday celebration.  It was announced yesterday that Fr Paul has been awarded the Order of the British Empire, one of the British Orders of Chivalry.  It established in 1917 by King George V to honour those who had served during the first World War.  It very quickly spread to  include all those who have given truly significant service to their country in a vast variety of  capacities.

Fr Paul was awarded his Membership of the  Order of the British Empire for services to the Church and Community to the East and West Sepik and Port Moresby.  Fr Paul has worked as a missionary here in Papua New Guinea through two periods in the late 1970s and early 1980s and then since 1989 till the present.  During that time Fr Paul ministered among the people in the stations of Utai, Imonda, Wasengla and Ossima.  He has been Parish Priest of Baro parish and the Town (Cathedral) parish in Vanimo and Parish Priest of St Joseph’s parish, Boroko.

Fr Paul has been much loved wherever he has worked.  His kindness and compassion and matched by his gentleness and thoughtfulness. His concern for the poor means that every day here at St Joseph’s dozens of destitute and needy people come seeking assistance. What he has he gives away to those who need it more.

He is tireless in his visitation to the people in their homes and in the hospitals.  Fr Paul, as we all know, is wonder- fully social and truly enjoys people’s company. He is loved for his humour and warmth.

In the same Birthday Honors list, Sr Peter Mary OLSH, the Superior of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Community, was awarded the same honour for her service to the Church and community here in PNG—a double celebration for the parish.

We join all those people Fr Paul has served so well in celebrating this recognition of his many, many years of service to the Church and People of God in Papua New Guinea.

What a wonderful weekend of celebration and reflection this Easter was.  We were truly blessed with three men looking at the possibility of fulfilling their vocation in with the Passionists.  They were such a blessing to the community, who enjoyed talking and sharing with them in community and as individuals.  Them joining us over Easter emphasised the message of LIFE and LOVE and HAPPINESS we are called to in religious life as each one brought that to the community in their own way.  I ask that you continue to pray for them and for all vocations!

Jesus is risen, lets praise our living God!

I always get excited at the start of Holy Week.  A new season, a time for preparation and most importantly, a time for reflection.  So far, the journey has been very eventful and definitely very strengthening.

In my Easter reflections this Holy Week, I have come to reflect on the Risen Christ in my life.  How do I allow the Risen One to change my life and affect a constant journey of conversion?  How do I reflect the Risen Christ to others?

A few years ago, i obtained a music cd of a Christian band called Mercy Me.  What an awesome group!  Contemporary music that truly is worship in every sense and one particular song grabbed my attention and has been the “theme song” for my reflection this Holy week.  I include a video clip off YouTube for you to watch and listed.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This Holy Week, I invite you to reflect with me on the glorious gift of the Risen Christ by journeying through the Passion of Christ to the life we have in His resurrection.  God bless.

 

Finally, I was able to post the photos of the profession on Youtube as a video.  I had problems finding some music that would not breach copyright laws…..  I hope you enjoy them

Watch the video clip of the Profession

The Profession Retreat went very well.  It was an inspiring time for reflecting on life as a vowed Passionist and the contributions the Congregation will make to my life and the contributions I will be able to make to my community and the Congregation as a whole.

The week seems to be rushing by so fast that I feel like I will not be able to do all the things I need to do.  Of course this has to do with the extreme excitement I am experiencing.  I have been longing for so long for this day and to take public vows is an incredibly serious thing to me.

Please continue to pray with me and for me, and let us all also continue to pray for an increase of vocations to religious life.  It is a life I can not imagine being without and I am eager to share it with anyone who wants to share in our charism and who wants to be inspired by St Paul of the Cross to become a Passionist priest, brother or sister.

God bless

In keeping with Church Law, but more importantly, in keeping with Passionist tradition, a retreat is made  by every novice before taking their vows.  To this, I am no exception.  So, I started my retreat last night, Sunday 18th January 2009, and will make this retreat for a week.

I have found that hardly a day into the retreat I am having moving and deep spiritual experiences.  Fr Kevin Tui’Tu’u CP is directing my retreat.

The readings today have spoken to me and my heart, which is what the Passionist Charism is all about - a matter of the heart!  In meditating on and contemplating Christ, I have been touched by two quotes Fr Kevin has shared with me…..

“The darkness you are encountering is in itself a rich experience.  If it be that you want to meet Our Lord, then it is by moonlight that you must seek Him, under an olive tree.  You will find Him flat in the ground, and you will have to lie down on your face with Him if you are to catch His words”

(Newspaperman’s advice to a youth having faith problems)

What a beautiful message.  From this I learnt in our darkest times, most faithless times, Jesus is there and can be seen and found by that small dim light in our dark moments.  We find Him, “under the Olive tree” being the symbol of the Grace of God, not preaching from the rooftops, or screaming in the world, by softly and gently urging us on to persevere as He is with us.

A very similar way, St John of the Cross is quoted from “The Spiritual Canticle”

O soul, most beautiful among all creatures, you who so long to know the place where your Beloved is, so as to seek Him and become one with Him, now it has been stated:

You yourself are the home in which He dwells.

There is a reason to be happy; here is a cause for joy; the realisation that every blessing and all you hope for is so close to you as to be within you.

Be glad, find joy there, gathered together and present to Him who dwells within, since He is so close to you; desire Him there, adore Him there, and do not god off looking for Him elsewhere….

There is just one thing: even though He is within you, He is hidden!

I have a profound sense similar to the one our Founder, St Paul of the Cross had when he felt his calling, when he looked up and saw a small chapel on a high hill, secluded from the world.  He is reported having said “How my soul longs for that place”.  This is my heart’s desire today, to be alone with God.  To sense God in everything and to know God’s perfect and loving Will.  I want to be with the Lover of my soul!

Please continue to pray with me and for me on this retreat.

Fraternally

Nicky

It has been some time since my last entry, and for this I must apologise.  However, time for an update of what has been happening on my formation journey and my spiritual journey.

At the end of last year, 2008, I received notification from the Provincial and his council that I had been approved by the novitiate assessment board to take vows at my 1st profession as a Passionist.  This was definitely the most exciting moment of my life that extended to this very day - albeit, it does bring a number of other emotions and thoughts to mind.  I was recently talking to a friend about this and commented that this must be how a bridegroom feels before his wedding day.  Anxious to get it all happening the one day, nervous about it all the next.  But, all I can say that really has remained a constant is that this is what I want.  This is the way of life God has called me to.

Even thought every emotion is experienced and lived, there is a certain calmness and peace about it all.  This to me is the hand of God and the Grace of God which always is felt and seen when we are doing the Will of God.

Thank you for praying for me on my journey and I will ask that you continue to do so.  Continue to pray for vocations to religious life.  Thank you also all my friends and new-found family back home in New Zealand and South Africa.  It is great knowing that I am a Kiwi vocation and that God willing, I certainly wont be the last!

Fraternally,

Nicky

I have always enjoyed contemporary Christian music.  It has always appealed to my love of music, just as much as classical and traditional Christian and Liturgical music has.  So you can only imagine how excited I was when, at the recent World Youth Day 08 gathering here in Sydney, I opened up the programme listing for the week and saw that after the Stations of the Cross, Hillsong United and Darlene Czech were leading the young Catholic pilgrims in praise and worship!  This was the ultimate in ecumenism and I was not only proud to be Catholic, but so happy and impressed to be part of the Church today.

So, here is a video clip of one of my favourite worship songs from Hillsong with the most powerful clip from the film, The Passion of Christ.  These two sum up my life as a Passionist, my faith as a Christian and my admiration of God’s love for all of us.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

On 6th August 2008 Bishop Elect Neil Tiedemann, C.P. will receive Episcopal Ordination in Mandeville, Jamaica (West Indies).

On 28th May 2008 Pope Benedict XVI had named Fr. Neil from the St. Paul of the Cross Province (USA) as the third Bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica (West Indies).

The Mandeville Diocese was created in 1997. The total population is around 582,000 of whom some 8,800 are Catholics. The Diocese has 22 parishes, 43 priests (42 diocesan and 1 religious), 6 religious Brothers, 2 seminarians and 28 Sisters. The Diocese has been vacant since 8th August 2006, following the resignation of Bishop Gordon Bennett, S.J. due to health reasons. The first Bishop of Mandeville was the late Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, C.P. former Superior General of the Passionists.

Representing the current Passionist Superior General, Fr. Ottaviano D’Egidio, C.P. at the Episcopal Ordination on 6th August 2008 in Mandeville will be Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., and Fr. Clemente Barron, C.P., from the General Council.