.Upcoming services
St Michael’s services are continuing as usual with Mass celebrated every Sunday at 9am. All are welcome to attend. Contact us on 0427 115 468 or info@smlcc.com.au for details of the venue in Surfers Paradise.
Intents for July and August
July 5 God as love August 2 Wisdom
July 12 God as peace August 9 Confidence
July 19 Steadfast service August 16 Devotion
July 26 Purity August 23 Discenrment
August 30 Self-dedication
New pictures for our chapel.
We are thrilled with our beautiful new pictures for our chapel, painted in brilliant colours by Brisbane artist, Genevieve Wheeler.
 
The Trinity
On Sunday 7 June we celebrated Trinity Sunday, which signaled the start of the second half of the Church year. Including Trinity Sunday there are 25 Sundays of Trinity, each with its own Intents, Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
The general plan for the first and second parts of the Church year is that the mystery drama outlined in the events of the first half of the year (the Nativity, Epiphany, Baptism of Our Lord, Presentation of our Lord in the temple, Transfiguration, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost) become in the second half of the year part of a more reflective and deepening process for our own spiritual journeys.
Ironically Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, declared in a recent news item that he no longer cares about being liked: he is now striving to “be understood”. He goes on, “In order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for.” Right now Mark Zuckerberg has a net worth of about 84 billion US dollars. His contemporaries, Jeff Bezos (153 billion), Bill Gates (108 billion), Elon Musk (40 billion) attract a host of admirers, dissenters, critics, enemies, friends. They arouse all the emotional output that humans seem able to express.
You might recall Abraham Maslow’s pyramid-shaped “Heirarchy of Needs” which he formulated in 1943.
The five-layer pyramid consists of Physiological Needs (air, water, food, rest, health) at the lowest level up to Self-Actualisation at the top level. Self-actualisation is characterised by morality, creativity, lack of prejudice, an acceptance of reality (the facts) and the need for development of an “integrated psyche”. Zuckerberg’s wish “to be understood” is also identified as a deep, important need for humans in their transition from the bottom to the top of Maslow’s pyramid.
Perhaps we can also see something of this transition in Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller, American business magnates who were labelled “robber barons” because they appeared to apply ruthless and/or unethical practices to amass their huge wealth. In their later years these same men gave away hundreds of millions of dollars to support a wide range of cultural and educational institutions that persist to this day. The industries these men controlled (oil, steel, railways, automobiles) radically changed the face of America and the rest of the world. In their own time they encouraged disruptive technologies and industrial processes. They increased the standard of living of generations of workers and they changed the day-to-day life of nearly everyone in the West.
Our LCC theology outlines how the Trinity originates the Divine Order – “perfect justice rules the world”. The Divine Order involves change and disruption in our lives, consciously or unconsciously, as we proceed on our own Paths. The Covid-19 “isolation” has allowed space in our days and weeks for the opportunity to reflect on our own paths and on what gives us satisfaction and a sustained contentment. The human need to be understood is an important component of a truly integrated psyche. Maslow’s pyramid indicates the significance of human endeavours that lead to sustained contentment. It tells us that “being liked” is a human requirement, but does not bring the deeper satisfaction of the higher level requirement of “respect of others and by others” which implies being understood and appreciated at a deeper level than being liked.
The Divine Order and its associated earthly change and disruption always extracts the good from any activity. Our Collect for health workers includes the words from sacred scripture which say “All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose”. As our own Spiritual Path develops, we gain a richer view, a deeper insight into our own particular God-given gifts. From our “inner knowing” we can confidently develop and express our gifts so that we can also enrich the world with our own contributions. People’s true vocation might be pictured as practice of a daily activity that is inspired by and also supports their own “inner knowing”. With persistent application, such practice becomes more effective, more influential and inspiring, and brings practitioners into resonant alignment with their own inner numinous experience. This is the Path which brings us into alignment with God’s will.
I can have great confidence in recommending to you the Intents of each Sunday in Trinity as a source of daily inspiration. Also, when taken as a theme for your mediation, these Intents seed your “inner knowing” and accelerate your journey on your Spiritual Path. In this way we can lift one another up while healing the planet.
With God’s blessing
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