In the homily, Bishop of Lismore Greg Homeming spoke of poet and shoemaker Hans Sachs, who featured in Richard Wagner\u2019s 1868 opera Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.<\/p>\n
\u2018At a certain point, Hans Sachs has a monologue, an extraordinary aria, which he sings alone,\u2019 Bishop Homeming said, before quoting the lyrics: \u201cMadness, madness, everywhere there is madness.\u201d<\/p>\n
We all have one thing in common: we have Jesus Christ, and he\u2019s the light that has come into the darkness.<\/p>\n
\u2018We are at a time in the world where we could all say with him, \u201cmadness, madness\u201d,\u2019 the bishop observed. \u2018You don\u2019t have to look very far. It is everywhere. Anyone who can think, \u201cI can make peace by bombing people until they\u2019re totally obliterated\u201d\u2014that is absolute madness.\u2019<\/p>\n
Instead, we are called to live in such a way that \u2018madness gives way to light\u2019, Bishop Homeming said. \u2018We are called to experience the darkness and in that darkness be light.\u2019 <\/p>\n
Exploring what that might mean, he observed that all those gathered at the prayer service were there \u2018because we all have one thing in common: we have Jesus Christ, and he\u2019s the light that has come into the darkness.<\/p>\n
In the midst of a world full of madness, there are only two possibilities given to us … God and love.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think at this time more than ever, this is something which we must take to heart, because in the midst of a world full of madness, there are only two possibilities given to us,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018The first is we must look to God, and for us that means look to Jesus Christ, to walk with him and stand with him. And the other thing which madness calls forth through us is love. Two things: God and love.\u2019<\/p>\n
The service was the initiative of the Bishops Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue. After the service, the bishops and guests shared a meal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the homily, Bishop of Lismore Greg Homeming spoke of poet and shoemaker Hans Sachs, who featured in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6866,6864,6865,6310,6868,6869,260,6867,6870,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-10369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-archbishop","9":"tag-archdiocese","10":"tag-catholic","11":"tag-child-safety","12":"tag-community","13":"tag-jesus","14":"tag-melbourne","15":"tag-parish","16":"tag-sacraments","17":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}