Upon this Rock 107 May 2010

Upon This Rock is Now Online: www.UponThisRock.eu

Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by EuropeAxess Media,

Gibraltar.

Editor Fr. Stuart Chipolina: [email protected]

Production Editor: A. Sargent

[email protected]

Cover: Bishop Elect Heskett meets parishoners Darren, Joanna and Isabella Torres

Photo: A. Sargent

Upon this Rock magazine is entirely supported by advertising and donations. It is run in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar by EuropeAxess Media as a not-for-profit project.

To advertise: This magazine is hand-delivered to homes, churches, hospitals and many businesses around Gibraltar every month. To discuss your advertising requirements, or promote your church group or charity, call Tel: 200 79335 email [email protected] Editorial is selected by EuropeAxess Media in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar. Neither of these parties is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor do the views and opinions expressed herein necessarily reflect the views and opinions of either party. Advertisers are not endorsed by virtue of advertising in this magazine. EuropeAxess Media reserves the right to refuse space to any submissions or advertisements.

The image of the vine was a rich one for the Jews since the land

of Israel was covered with numerous vineyards. It had religious connotations to it as well. Isaiah spoke of the house of Israel as “the vineyard of the Lord” (Isaiah 5:7). Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel “as his choice

vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). While the vine became a symbol of Israel as a nation, it also was used in the scriptures as a sign of degeneration. Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of Israel as a vineyard which “yielded wild grapes” (see Isaiah 5:1-7). Jeremiah said that Israel had become a “degenerate and wild vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). When Jesus calls himself the true vine he makes clear that no one can claim their spiritual inheritance through association with a particular people or bloodline. Rather, it is only through Jesus Christ that one can become grafted into the true “vineyard of the Lord”.Jesus offers true life – the

abundant life which comes from God and which results in great fruitfulness. How does the vine become fruitful? The vinedresser must carefully prune the vine before it can bear good fruit. Vines characteristically have two kinds of branches – those which bear fruit and those which don’t. The non-bearing branches must be carefully pruned back in order for the vine to conserve its strength for bearing good fruit. Jesus used this image to describe the kind of life he produces in those who are united with him – the fruit of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Jesus says there can be no fruit in our lives apart from him. The fruit he speaks of here is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).There is a simple truth here: We are either fruit-bearing or non-fruit-bearing. There is no in-between. But the bearing of healthy fruit requires drastic

Dear Friends...

Why does Jesus speak of himself as the true vine?

Careful pruning is required for growth.

Exchange Travel Ltd 241 Main Street, P.O.Box 263, Gibraltar. Tel: 200 76151/2

COSTA DEL SOL

Hotel Riu Nautilus (Torremolinos) 4* .........Prices from £30 pp/pn on BB BasisHotel Luca Costa Lago (Torremolinos) 4* .Prices from £40 pp/pn on BB BasisHotel Barcelo Sancti Petri (Chiclana) 5* ....Prices from £67 pp/pn on BB BasisHotel Barrosa Palace (Chiclana) 5* ............Prices from £45 pp/pn on BB BasisHotel Valentin Sancti Petri (Chiclana) 4* ... Prices from £35 pp/pn on BB BasisHotel Beatriz Palace (Fuenguirola) 4* ........ Prices from £42 pp/pn on BB Basis

Book today for an unforgettable experience!

LA RESERVA SAFARI (SEVILLE)2 nights accommodation on HB BasisPrices from £163 for 2 adults (2 nights)Children 2-12 years £50 (2 nights)Superb bungalows immersed in the heart of the natural reserve, a complete range of activities for all age groups.

SPLENDOUR OF THE SEASOffer from April to Sept 2010 7 nights Greek IslandsITINERARY:Venice, Italy, Split, Croatia,Corfu, Greece, Athens (Piraeus), GreeceMykonos, Greece, Katakolon, Greece, Cruising, Venice, ItalyPrices from... £507pp

flick

r.com

/pho

tos/m

on_o

eil/

2

pruning. The Lord promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in him and allow him to purify us. Do you trust in the Lord’s abiding presence with you?“Lord Jesus, may I be one with you in all that I say and do. Draw

me close that I may glorify you and bear fruit for your kingdom. Inflame my heart with your love and remove from it anything that would make me ineffective or unfruitful in loving and serving you as my All.”God bless you. Fr Stuart

Careful pruning is required for growth.

Christ The King Prayer Group will be holding a

Life in the Spirit Seminar in English on the weekend of the 14th, 15th & 16th May. For further info please contact

Margaret 54012881; Pamela 56222000; Gerard 54024064/ 20073348


Diocesan news by Mike brufal

At the time of the announcement of the name of the next

Bishop of Gibraltar Father Ralph Heskett, together with Father Tim Buckley, was conducting a mission in the The Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Billericay in the diocese of Brentwood. The Bishop elect was born in Sunderland in the North East of England on the 3 March 1953 and named Ralph after his grandfather as he was the first male grandson. His mother became severely ill after giving birth and died soon afterwards. This meant that Ralph was looked after throughout his childhood by his paternal grandparents. His first school was the St Cuthbert’s Primary School in the Holy Rosary parish in Farringdon but after a year the family moved to the Redemptorist parish of St Benet which has always been the family parish. He attended the St Benet secondary school, passed the 11 plus , moved to the St Aidan’s school which was run by the Christian Brothers and aged 16 went to the Redemptorist minor seminary. He had felt stirrings of a vocation early on during his school days and he never had any doubt that he would become a member of the Redemptorist Congregation as he spent his entire life under the influence of the Redemptorist fathers in the parish. He never gave any consideration to opting to be a secular priest, a friar or a monk.

He started at the Redemptorist seminary at Hawkstone Hall in Shrewsbury and then the entire intake was moved to the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury. The Redemptorists had the privilege of being ordained after five years instead of the customary six with the saved year being used to teach pastoral work. He was ordained on the 10th July 1976 and sent to a parish near to Canterbury for a year as an introduction to the duties of a parish priest which he found to be a wonderful experience. The Franciscans seminarians were ordained as Deacons before the pastoral year and were ordained priests at the end of the sixth year.Father Heskett spent the next three years based at St Mary’s Kinnoull, Perth and conducted Parish missions in Scotland. From 1980 to 1984 he was based at Erdington Abbey, Sutton Road, Birmingham from where he was a member of teams engaged in Parish missions in England and Scotland. In October 1981 he made his first visit to Gibraltar when Bishop Rapallo asked the Redemptorists to run a youth mission. The team was headed by Father John Brookes with the final Mass being held in St Michael’s Cave. Father Ralph’s next visit was in 1984 when the Congregation was invited to send a Mission of ten priests to all the parishes ( 9 Redemptorist priests and an Augustinian friar). He and Father Gabriel Maguire

gave the mission to St Joseph’s Church. He fell in love with Gibraltar and for some ten years he would come out as the locum Parish priest at St Bernard’s Church where he struck a close friendship with Father Charles Bruzon.He returned to Kinnoull in 1984 to work on missions geared to attract young Catholics and was also promoting vocations which has always been a particular concern of his. In 1987 Father Ralph was appointed Superior of the Redemptorist Community and also director of missions. In 1990 he was moved to Liverpool as the Superior of the Community at the Bishop Eton monastery and also the parish priest of Our Lady of the Annunciation. During this period his interest in education was heightened when he was the Chairman of the Governors at Our Lady’s Primary School.Six years later he took a virtual sabbatical when he studied at All Hallows in Dublin and upon his return in 1997 he was appointed Master of Novices based at the Redemptorist Community at Canterbury. From 1999 to 2008 he was the Parish priest at St Mary’s Clapham in the diocese of Southwark where he was also Chairman of Governors at both St Mary’s Junior School and Bishop Thomas Grant Secondary school. The Clapham congregation included several Gibraltarians. In 2008 he returned to the Monastery at Bishop Eton in Liverpool to supervise the formulation of Postulants, to

preach Parish missions and to give Parish Retreats.This curriculum vitae shows a wonderfully varied career that has concentrated on bringing the Good News to a wide variety of Catholics throughout England and Scotland.The idea of ever being appointed a Bishop had never crossed his mind during the years of his ministry. So when a message from the Apostolic Nuncio awaited him upon his return to the Bishop Eton monastery, after saying Sunday Mass at the University, asking him to call the Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz he had no idea what it might be about. The call was duly made and the Nuncio said: “ as you are a regular visitor to Gibraltar I would like to talk to you about the diocesan priests and I would like to see you this week if at all possible.” Arrangements were made for him to visit the Wimbledon nunciature the next day.The Nuncio opened the conversation by saying that he was sure Father Ralph knew that he was looking for a Bishop of Gibraltar. He went on to say that he had been asking a variety of people about him and as a result the Holy Father would like to appoint you as the next Bishop.Father Ralph was astounded. His maxim in religious life had always been to do whatever task he was given. Sometimes he had not been too keen on the assigned job but looking back they had given him a wide range of experience which in the normal

“I love Gibraltar to bits.”At his first Mass as Bishop Elect at a packed Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, Fr. Ralph Heskett thanked all the people for coming and said he was delighted to see so many familiar faces smiling in the pews.

4


“I love Gibraltar to bits.”course of events he would never have encountered. So his first instinct was that if this is being asked then the hand of God must be at work somewhere and so he must respond accordingly.In order for him to gather his thoughts he asked the Nuncio whether in fact he had any choice in the matter. The Archbishop replied that there is always a choice but remember that this request comes from the Holy Father. Father Ralph immediately accepted the position and was told that The Nuncio wanted to make the official announcement on the following Thursday. The Bishop elect asked for a slight delay in making the announcement to enable him to get used to the idea of being appointed Bishop. This was accepted and agreement was reached that the news would be announced on the feast of St Joseph. The announcement has to be made on the same day as the news is broken in

the Vatican official newspaper ‘L’Osservatore Romano’ but as the paper was not going to be published on that day it was decided that the announcement would be made on Thursday 18 March. A commitment to give the mission in the Billericay parish meant that he could not be in Gibraltar on that day.The Bishop elect does speak some Spanish and last year spent time in Colombia and he can say Mass in Spanish. He is not fluent but is now on a sharp learning curve. Apart from diocesan considerations he would like to know sufficient Spanish to be able to have an understanding of what is being said when he goes as an observer to the Spanish Bishops’ conference. He would like to continue the excellent personal contact made by his predecessor, Bishop Caruana, with the Spanish and English and Welsh bishops, when he attends both Conferences. As he has worked in Gibraltar for

many years over several decades he does have a good idea of how the diocese functions. After he has been ordained and installed he wants to affirm all the good

things that are happening to the Church in Gibraltar. It is vibrant and he wants to explore the opportunity for growth, development and change. He

Bishop Elect Ralph Heskett asks “For the prayers and patience of the members of the diocese as I take on the role of their Shepherd.”


pointed out that any organisation without change withers away and dies. His main task is to get the balance right by recognising and affirming all the good things that are happening in the diocese, by working together with the priests and the people to see how the Catholics on the Rock can grow spiritually and as a community. He reiterated that the Gibraltar diocese is part of the universal church and this means that there are many opportunities to obtain resources for growth and development.Those who know the Bishop elect say that he is very people centered which means that he relates to parishioners. He says he likes to get close to people as far as this is possible and help them with their difficulties and struggles and to provide compassion for peoples’ sufferings. These form part of the pastoral approach to ministry. His life has been dedicated to giving parish missions and retreats. A mission is one way to welcome people back into the

Church which can happen simply by words of encouragement or through the sacrament of reconciliation. The clergy by expressive proclamation of the Gospel, by reaching out to people when those Catholics have become careless about their faith, can offer them a way back by working through the sacraments, thus enabling them to renew their relationship with the Church and Christ.As a parish priest the same sort of work is carried out in a different way and setting. In a parish it is more ongoing as the priest stands alongside the parishioners and shares people’s joys in marriage, baptism, first Holy Communion and then stands alongside them when they are sick or dying. The parish priest is there to provide comfort in such time as

“I love Gibraltar to bits.”Diocesan news by Mike brufal

6

“I love Gibraltar to bits.”

bereavement, the loss of a job and the other tribulations of life. Both missions are people centered but exercised in a different way.The Bishop elect said that ecumenism is absolutely vital and crucial. His experience of religious life on the Rock has shown how there is genuine mutual respect between all the religions and how they all stand alongside each other. He wishes to continue to foster and deepen these relationships.Father Ralph Heskett ended the interview with these words: “I have known the diocese and the parishes for some thirty years. I love Gibraltar to bits. During the last ten years the parishioners of St Bernard’s have been very kind to me. I am really looking forward to giving something back to Gibraltar in my role of Bishop. During my visits I have done different things, missions, Lenten talks

and I have been there when the border to Spain was closed.The big difference is that previously I have always returned to the monastery after the assignment. Now it will be a very different experience for me as I shall not be leaving. Gibraltar will become my home and the diocese is my new ministry. It will be a totally different

experience and there will be a difficult learning curve.I have been greatly encour-aged by all the messages from Gibraltar that have been received over the past few days. I ask for the prayers and patience of the members of the diocese as I take on the role of their Shepherd.”

Gauchos Restaurant, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 [email protected]

www.gauchos-gibraltar.com

Introducing theBLACK ROCK GRILL

Terrace Opening Soon



stewarDs of the faMily environMent

FIRE! The cry that instils

instant terror is not one you want to hear anytime, especially in the early hours of the morning. Imagine being jolted out of sleep to the acrid smell of smoke which is usually the first indication of fire before flames are visible, and burning material, wood, chemicals, plastic etc, generate lethal fumes which on inhalation can and do kill. Residential fires kill an average of four hundred

every year in the UK. It is a gruesome statistic and one which can be prevented with a little care and thought.Fire has been an important part of cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day. It was the ability to control fire which made dramatic changes in the way early humans lived, e.g. helping to stay warm, keeping nocturnal animals at bay, for signalling devices and most importantly it became possible for people to cook food. This process has

evolved into the sophisticated methods we know today, and take for granted. Electricity has made our lives cleaner and easier, and yet, hundreds of fires break out in every year causing painful burns, destruction and death. This is often a sad fact of carelessness and irresponsibility in the very place in which we are supposed to be safe.I had a chat with Simon Lett, Senior Engineer and Sales Manager at Sheriffs, the oldest established electrical contractors on the Rock since 1927. “Our biggest issue is safety in the home. In order to have this, hazards that cause fire need to be eliminated, and common sense is often all that’s needed. Sofas, curtains, clothes are things that burn so keep a clearance space between heaters and vulnerable people and children, toys and clothes. Simon’s manner was forthright and frank throughout our chat. “Running extension leads, which are intended for

temporary use only, is dangerous behind curtains, under carpets, because they can overload, get hot, start to spark and cause a fire. Especially do not use too many cords in one socket, and make sure fuses are correct according to what you are connecting to”. He spoke about fuse boxes in homes where a miniature circuit breaker can be fitted to older type boxes whose fuses take a while to trip; this addition will cause fuses to trip much quicker. He stressed the need to keep harmful substances away from children and heat. Fit safety locks on cupboard doors and drawers. Never let children play with matches/lighters, and this was interesting, “Never leave lighters on window sills where the sun shines. The heat through the glass is magnified, the gas expands and it blows up, easily causing fire”. He went on; “put safety gates on stairs, top and bottom, and any other area you do not want the child to

Safety at HomeWe have often talked about the Environment in our magazine, but look around you now, what about your own home, is it as safe as you’d like to think?

anne Mesilio

8

stewarDs of the faMily environMent

access”. Smoke alarms are necessary in detecting fires and they buy time to get out of the house quickly. There are many types on the market and Simon advised, “the best ones to fit are mains/battery back up. These need an electrical connection but in the event of power failure the battery kicks in, and even battery operated is better than nothing. Mind you”, he carried on, “any appliance is only as good as the testing, all carry a test facility, message/bleep to tell its working so do test it frequently, at least once a month”. I learned the best place to fit these are in corridors, not the kitchen where the smoke alarm will goes off if you burn the toast! So what about the kitchen. “You need a heat alarm, it works on rate of rise so it depends how quickly the heat rises to set off the alarm”. I wondered about prices

for these various appliances. Prices start at about £3 upwards for wireless, and mains powered from £10 upwards and to install this you may need an electrician for safety reasons. On fire extinguishers he suggested; “keep one handy, especially in the kitchen when cooking, also

a fire blanket. It is best to stay in the kitchen (and this applies to outdoor BBQ’s too) rollup loose sleeves, keep children and pets away and keep a focus on what is happening”. Consider how distracting phone conversations can be, or keeping an eye on your favourtie ‘soap’ on TV, and the most common cause of kitchen

fire is the unattended chip pan. “Throw the fire blanket over the top at once, fires need fuel, oxygen, so kill the source and you kill the fire”. I asked about types of fire extinguishers. There are three, water, carbon dioxide and dry powder, and the latter is the most used. Prices range from about £9 and for the fire blanket from about £11. It is an affordable cost, but ask yourself, can you afford not to? Again, testing is important to keep the appliance ready for use, there is a gauge showing lost pressure so keep an eye on this and if necessary take it to the shop for attention.

Now this is not required by law, but maybe it should be. A home safety plan is a useful ,way to ensure you and your family know what to do in the event of a fire at home. It also makes you aware of how fire proof, or not, your home is. Simon; “make sure everyone in the house is aware of this. Plan the escape route; assign responsibilities for the young, elderly, infirm in helping them out. If possible have two escape

routes, do you have a back door, balcony? On a balcony you are visible and can attract attention. Have memorized the emergency services number and never stay inside, get out”. He went on with some judicious advice in the event of being smoked out. “Get on the floor and crawl, the good air is near the floor, don’t stop to pick things up, never go back, just get out”. Invaluable warning to keep in mind. If an item of clothing catches fire he stressed the absolute necessity to; STOP, DROP, ROLL. “You need to smother the oxygen, don’t beat at the flames, this just fans it, STOP, DROP,ROLL, and try not to panic”. Making your home a safe place to be can become a matter of habit. Keep keys to doors in same place always, make sure this is everyone’s responsibility. Switch off TV’s PC’s, when not in use, do not rely on the stand by button which actually allows electricity to the appliance, only switching off cuts the supply. Look around your home with safety in mind and no doubt you will become aware of what you may be able to do. Start your own fire drills, why not, you expect them in public places, work places etc. You are responsible for safety at home. This aphorism, ‘measure twice, cut once’, used as a rule for carpenters for using resources wisely can be applied to taking care at home. You only get one chance at it, so, BE SAFE!

anne Mesilio

• Spray tan (no UVA)• Manicure, Pedicure, Massage• Nail Wax, Acrylic, Gel, Fibre

�e Rock Hotel, Europa Road, Gibraltar. Tel: 200 71414 Ext: 8302

• Eyelash Extensions (Temporary & Permanent)

• Nail Extensions (with peircings)


Before the Internet and TV took over the world, BBC Radio featured

my favourite comedian, Ken-neth Williams, in a series called “Beyond Our Ken”. Ken, alias Arthur Fallowfield, Somerset farmer, had the an-swer to all and every agricul-tural problem. “The answer”, he would say in the broadest West Country accent, “lies in the soil”. The answer lies in the soil: this brings to mind one of those great teaching stories delivered by Our Lord with such resounding ech-oes throughout the ages, the Par-able of the Sower (Matthew 13 vv 4-9).A seed contains a miracle. When you look at it from the outside, or touch it, it appears hard, dry, perhaps even dead and inca-

pable of producing anything. But place it in the ground, give it water and warmth, and life begins to stir. The outer shell dies but the inner kernel comes alive by the mysterious forces of growth. The inner powers of the kernel are released when the seed is in proper soil and receives ad-equate moisture. The kernel ger-minates and new life begins. As long as nourishment is provided, growth continues. From the seed comes a flower, a plant, or a tree, each of which was present only potentially in the seed.Is the miracle of growth mani-fest in human beings, too? Yes, by all means. Not only our phys-ical being but also our spiritual being has the potential of mirac-ulous growth. Physical growth is practically spontaneous and

automatic. Yet physical growth, too, requires adequate nourish-ment and suitable environment. Spiritual growth is neither spon-taneous nor automatic. Spiritual growth requires the exercise of personal freedom through intel-lectual, moral and spiritual deci-sions, commitments and actions. But spiritual growth, too, surely needs a proper environment and constant nourishment to flourish.In the Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:5-15), Jesus teaches that both seed and soil are necessary for growth. Both seed and soil need proper interaction to produce satisfying crop. The seed is lik-ened to the word of God. The soil is the life and heart of each hu-man being. The parable tells us that much seed is lost when fall-ing into unreceptive soil. How-ever, when seed and soil connect and interact properly, astonish-ing growth occurs. “And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.”Baptism is the gateway to life in the Spirit (Cat. 1213). It is the sacramental water of Baptism that

brings the “imperishable seed” of the “enduring Word of God” (Pe-ter 1 v 23). We need to be mind-ful therefore of our spiritual soil so that that precious “seed” may not fall on “patches of rock” or “ among thorns”, but on “rich soil”. Global warming is forcing us to be more sensitive to Nature than hitherto. Though not at all a gar-dener, I cannot help noticing how the varying and variable weather is confusing the plants in my pa-tio. They don’t seem to be at all sure whether Spring is coming or whether Winter is still around. The richness of the soil is not of itself sufficient to aid and main-tain the growth; it needs to be cared for. So much more our spir-itual soil. We need to consciously move and live sensitive to the constant nurturing of that “soil”; daily maintaining a spiritual cli-mate supportive and caring of it. How can we set about it ?Jesus gave us the overriding premise with which to direct our life: “Set your hearts on his king-dom first, and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well” ( Mat-thew 6 v 33).To those of us who, like the rich young man, may feel it’s too much to ask, He re-assured us : “ Shoulder my yoke and learn from me (for) my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11 v29-30).

The Answer Lies in the Soilspiritual Growth Julio alcantara

Once upon a time, in an age before the Internet took over the world...

10

In a world consumed by mate-rialism it is timely to be warned that “ wherever your treasure is , there will be your heart too “ ( Matt 6 v 18). Mindful as we need to be to the health and security of ourselves and our families, in-deed our duty, it is not wealth per se that is condemned but our sen-sitivity to the balance between God and Caesar. The obsessive, all-encompassing storing of “treasures on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them” will be at the expense of treas-ures “ in heaven (where) thieves cannot break in and steal” ( Matt 6 vv19-20 ). Those who live “in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things” (Romans 8 v5)In dealing with others we are asked to love one another as He loves us. He gave us the golden rule : “always treat others as you would like them to treat you ..” (Matt 7 v12). In a community often given to gossip, we are admonished not to judge others for we surely run the risk of be-ing judged ourselves. “It is what comes out of the mouth that makes someone unclean” (Matt 15 v 11). Thoughtless words can “wound as deeply as any sword, but wise words can heal” (Prov-erbs 12 v 18). In being loving, however, we are not expected to become doormats : “If your brother does something wrong,

rebuke him and, if he is sorry, forgive him”(Luke 17 v 4). It is through the eyes of compassion that we are to move, as taught us by that great soul Blessed Moth-er Teresa. “In truth I tell you in-sofar as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Matt 25 v 40).The Spanish saying: “Dime con quien vas y te dire quien eres. is a wise admonition. (Tell m who your friends are and I will

tell you what you are).“ Do not go where evil men go (Prov-erbs4:14). Men who have aban-doned a “righteous life” live “in the darkness of sin”; finding pleasure in doing wrong, “who enjoy senseless evil” (Proverbs 13:14). If we are mindful to keep the company of proper and wise people, people who are seekers of the same path, then surely we are protecting ourselves within a

nurturing spiritual climate. We remind each other; we pick each other up when we slip; we share our strengths. We help each other to “listen to what is wise and try to understand it” (Proverbs 2:2)Earthly soil produces a myriad of harvests, not just the ONE out-come : grass for cattle and sheep; grapes for wine; wheat and corn; potatoes and fruits – the vari-ety is seemingly endless. Yet, it seems to me that we often have an imperfect vision of our spir-itual soil; expecting it to eventu-ally produce the one, monolithic sameness. In the favourite car-toonists’ representation of Heav-en, we are all identical angels, all sit on the one cloud, playing identical harps. Our Lord speaks of there being “many mansions in His Father’s house”; and in this very parable of the sower, speaks of the rich soil produc-ing “some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty… “ ( Matthew 13). In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25 v 14 ) the man

The Answer Lies in the Soilspiritual Growth Julio alcantara

there can be no compromise!

ExclusivE Distributor


Gibraltarians abroaD by sonia Golt

Very Commendable Work

continued from P11entrusts his property to his serv-ants : “to one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his abil-ity.” It is what we do with God’s gifts to us upon which we will be judged and not whether we race against each other, measuring ourselves by what others do.Therefore, in the words of St Francis de Sales: “Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – eve-ry day begin the task anew” . We have prayer “to animate us at every moment” (Cat 2697).For those who may not find it easy to pray, we have those so consoling words of St Paul’s : “ the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us “ (Romans 8 :26). And those tremendously healing, deeply beautiful words of Our Lord: “Come to me, all you who labour and are overbur-

dened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11 v 28)But above everything else, it is to the Eucharist and the Sacra-ments, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that we look for the “soil fertilizers” in our spiritual quest.I pray therefore that you hold the seeds you have longed to see come to fruition up before the Lord and let Him send His rain and so ensure that the “vine” of Baptism has “already been planted in a fertile well-watered field, ….. that (can) grow … and be a magnificent vine” (Ezekiel 17 v 18)

What Tessa Linares dis-covered when she visited Sister Patricia in Peru.

SPONSORS OF UPON THIS ROCK

The Answer Lies in the Soil

When you see a young woman make a deci-sion to go far from

home on a journey where pov-erty and uncomfortable sur-roundings, hard work and full dedication to others is what she will find at the end of the road, it is commendable. This is what Tessa Linares has just gone and done to help a mis-sion in Peru while visiting the woman who influenced her as a young girl and taught her with her actions that there is always time to help others in life. How did Sister Patricia influ-ence you towards taking this trip to Peru?“Sister Patricia was my teacher at the Loreto Convent School.

The first time she taught me was when I was just 5 years old and later at the age of 8, I was lucky to have her as my teacher once again. Although I did not see her regularly in class anymore I saw a lot of her as she became the headmistress of the school. Years later and when I was preparing for my A-Levels at the age of 17, Sister Patricia mentioned that she was leaving to start a Mission in Peru and before she left she said

12

Gibraltarians abroaD by sonia Golt

Very Commendable Work

AI International Couriers Ltd11 Engineer LaneP.O. Box 532GibraltarTel: 200 73775 Fax: 200 74389

I could always go and visit. This was 9 years ago but I have just been there to see her and visit her Mission and the experience has certainly been well worth it.”

How was the trip and what did you do to help? “I went to a town called Jicar-marka, which is just on the out-skirts of the capital, Lima, I was asked to teach English conversa-tion to those children who need-ed more confidence with the language. I was overwhelmed with the response from the chil-dren and by the environment they live in, the problems they have, and the wonderful work done by Sister Patricia. I was in awe most of the time. The posi-tive impact that Sister Patricia is having on the town and on the children and their futures is ab-solutely unbelievable, and I am very proud of her.”What did you have to cope with? “The weather was so very hot that it was like heat coming out of an oven, a very dry heat. It was hard to get used to it at first, but by the end of my stay there it seemed as if I had lived in this weather all my life, I got used to it. The hardest thing for me was to see that these persons lead this type of life were there are abso-lutely no luxuries, no extras and

still they cope and live happily, something which made me real-ize that we are so lucky where we live and how we live. I find

it difficult to come to terms with this reality even though I have been there, but the work the Mis-sion does is wonderful and these groups of children at least are getting a better education and are fed on a daily basis thanks to Sis-ter Patricia’s hard work.” Sister Patricia has done a great deal of work in the 9 years she has been living in Jicarmarka, she has built a school that teach-es over 750 children and she feeds 350 of these children at the school every day. Those that stay at the “Comedor,” the dinning-room as it is called, are the ones that would otherwise have no food from elsewhere, they are poor children but they are fed well thanks to this facility pro-vided by the Mission. Sister Pa-tricia’s dedication and hard work and her enthusiasm and love are what make her so special and so liked in the community. “Those that know Sister Patricia know how she is, she is a strong headed woman and she is push-ing for her school to rise and for the children that she has in school to have a better future, as well as to show them a different way of life, and by educating them that

they may find a way forward in the future. She is helping to make this future brighter for them and I personally feel this is priceless.” What struck you most about the children? “They are amaz-ingly kind people, genuine and giv-ing. The children at break time would stop play-ing and run up to me and give me a hug and a kiss, people are inter-ested in you, in who you are and what you do in another country, so I told them about my work, my family and about Gibraltar and they were all ears and loved it.” How did you find money to do-nate to the Mission in Peru? “Thanks to the wonderful Com-pany I work for which is Price-WaterHouse Coopers. I would like to mention that the partners in the company were very kind

to double my travel money and to kindly donate over £800, this plus the rest of the money others donated is what I took to Sister Patricia. I also want to thank

everyone who helped me raise the money which I presented to Sister Patricia who was happy to receive help from her own home town.“ A picture tells a thou-sand words and on these pages we have shown the children Tessa met and the place they live in and the school.

There are not enough words of praise to encompass the work that Sister Patricia has done to help these children and to give them an education and food and clothing, this is kindness and this is charity and Gibral-tarians are known worldwide by now for being a very chari-table community. Long may this happen!


breakinG new GrounD DoM sebastian

Rowan Williams said something in his early book, Resurrection,

that has always stayed with me: that in all the accounts we have of the resurrection we can still discern an experience of shock, consternation and bewilderment, at the discovery that the tomb was empty. We have lost this sense of shock; we say ‘well of course the tomb was empty, he’d risen hadn’t he?’ But think of the first impact: no Jesus to mourn, no victim of injustice to avenge. A total break in the immemorial routine of death and its procedures. A new kind of blank. The discovery was so shocking that it led the least negotiable of human beings, the liturgists, to change the solemn day, the Sabbath itself, to a day later, the day they found nothing in the tomb.With the sense of shock restored, go straight to the Emmaus story, the meeting with the stranger who turns out to be him, now the

meaning of life that turned the horror they had been through into an overwhelming ‘of course!’ the people who got that—and they tell us their heart burned—knew themselves as no longer men and women but a new being headed for martyrdom in a world grown old.And now come back to the empty tomb. What was it saying to people who were into a new creation, a new man, everything new? It meant the nothing out of which a new universe had been brought into being. It meant the void out of which are all the forms of things, into which Jesus had to go in that terrible garden experience, the sheer bewilderment of being the raw material of a new creation.And now here is Aquinas saying a wonderful thing. He asks, did the resurrection have witnesses, and replies that not only were there no witnesses: there couldn’t have been. The coming-alive of Jesus the way he is now alive was a mystery between him

See I make all things new

14

breakinG new GrounD DoM sebastian

See I make all things new

and his heavenly Father. N.T.Wright, the Anglican scholar who has done the best work on the resurrection makes his one bloomer here when he says that the believer has to be able to imagine ‘the body emerging from the tomb.’ This mistake is strange, for Wright electrified Antony Flew the grand old man of British philosophic scepticism who has decided that there is a God. Also Wright is the only scholar who understands that the weird nature of the appearances, with Jesus not recognized at first, do not invite doubt but belief: the risen Jesus was in two worlds, God’s and ours. The church now is in crisis, and crisis is a situation where

new decisions have to be made, as Eliot once said memorably in a lecture I was at. Surely we need to experience anew the resurrection as it sends its shockwaves through the church. If I don’t get those shockwaves, I don’t get the church’s present apologia.*REF POEM: Margaret Barker, an original scripture scholar, wrote a great book, ‘The Great Angel: Israel’s Second God’ in which she argued that Israel’s tradition had a Great Angel that was divine, and would have provided a perfect slot for the Christian Son if the Deuteronomic reformers hadn’t ‘purged’ Israel of a rich angelic tradition, all those hill-shrines.

I wonder did the massive agencyThat moved the stone take out the body tooAnd leave the blank for the eternal HeTo be and to be seen, shock of the new.

Causality in resurrectionIs primary, what is, the mysticalIn place of nothing—nothing past the stoneThe secondary cause angelical.

Angels between the infinite and usBut so too is the Son, the risen one,No rivalry, extraordinary useWith the once body of the only Son

Israel’s Great Angel after all was He*Who is humanity with angels free.

LenovoOffer £339 (Was £399)IBM Netbook 250GB,

Bluetooth, Windows 7

Image: Silhouetted building works as dawn breaks over the Rock. A. Sargent


16

Upon this Rock 107 May 2010

Documents

good fruit

fruit of righteousness

wild vine jeremiah

bearing of healthy fruit

choice vine jeremiah

europeaxess media

true vineyard

true life