WWME 30th ASIAN CONFERENENCE
7th to 12th November, 2005, Manila, Philippines.
FORMATION 1
PRISCILLA, AQUILA & PAUL
- Introduction
Davis-
When we look at the early Church in the New Testament we find a variety of different communities, which are often centred in people’s homes. And perhaps what is most surprising there is no distinct clergy as such, certainly not a celibate clergy. In fact, as we comb the pages of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St Paul we come across two married couples who have a pivotal role to play in the evolution of the early church. Both couples are friends of Paul. In fact the first couple, ANDRONICUS & JUNIA, are described in Romans 16/7 as “my relatives, and quite prominent among the apostles”. We should understand the word ‘apostle’ here not as one of the twelve, but rather as one of those who had seen the Lord and had been commissioned by him to preach the Gospel and found new churches. Isn’t it quite extraordinary that we have an apostolic couple, a couple who were known and respected as excellent apostles.
The second couple is PRISCILLA (or PRISCA) & AQUILA, described by St Paul in Romans 16/3 as “my co-workers”. We know that Priscilla & Aquila had an extraordinary friendship with Paul, which lasted over 25 years. We also know that Paul was instrumental in their conversion and in their extraordinary generous commitment to the mission of the early church. I really ask myself if this threesome, these lifelong friends in the Lord’s vineyard, were not in fact the very first ecclesial team!
- Priscilla & Aquila’s Conversion
2.1 Agnes - Read Acts 18/1-3
“After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together – by trade they were tentmakers” This happened in 49AD
2.1 Alex. -
Paul lived and worked from Priscilla and Aquila’s home and he had an incredible influence on them and their religious formation because the three of them set sail for Syria as a team –
Acts 18/18 “After staying there for a considerable time (perhaps 18 months) Paul said farewell to the believers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila” In that 18 months Aquila had become a Christian, and the couple had become so convinced of Christ’s message that they were willing to sell up and go on mission with Paul
2.1 Sharing H/W/P
Alex.-
I was fortunate to have this strong formation in my faith but it was not until our original Marriage Encounter Weekend that I realised just how blessed I was and how the weekend awakened a desire to make a more conscious effort to reach out and share that faith. My weekend turned me from a passive Catholic into a passionate Catholic. Here I was with this wonderful gift of Faith, this wonderful spouse to share my life and this dream of changing the world. I was like a crusader on a mission, I had a message and a gift that the rest of the world deserved to have a share of and the great thing was that I was not alone. I had these wonderfully committed Marriage Encounter people to guide me, to teach me, to dampen my sometimes over enthusiasm but best of all to walk the walk with me. People like Andrea and Anna who workshopped our first block of talks, who gave up their evenings to guide us and keep us on focus, people like Des and Andrea who challenged us into our first leadership role over 20 years ago and who had formed us and supported us in our journey. These were just a few of the people who wanted to journey the same journey we wanted. These are some of the people that taught us that we were indeed a part of this wonderful Body of Christ.
One of the greatest gifts Marriage Encounter has given me is my new understanding of Priesthood and the place that Priests have in my life.
While my childhood experience of Priest had been a positive and enjoyable experience, it was also a time when I put them on pedestal, when I revered them as God’s representative on earth and where I judged they were different to us. Almost unhuman, saintly, set apart, someone to be feared, liked but not loved, respected but not loved. They performed Gods work on earth and were therefore better and holier than us mere mortals, they were nice guys but they were different. Thank God for Marriage Encounter, because it was there that I learned to love and share my life with some wonderful guys that also had chosen to be Priests. My love for these guys has changed my life, I have been blessed with the presence of Paul in my life, of Carl in my life of Ron and Matthew in my life and now with John in my life.
Agnes –
Our Marriage Encounter weekend awakened so many dreams in me. It gave me the tools and inspiration to dream great dreams for our marriage; the weekend also gave me a wonderful opportunity to live out those dreams. I was able to learn new things about myself and grow in our love relationship. We discovered such energy and passion in our marriage; we were on fire with love for each other.
But that’s not the only gift that we received on that wonderful weekend. We also received the gift of mission; we were reborn in our commitment and love for our faith and our church. And we discovered that Priests were people too! We had the rare opportunity to discover and fall in love with our Priests.
We discovered a different church than what we had experienced before and we so wanted to be a part of this great church. The people that we met in this church had such a fire in their bellies for their church. Their faith and commitment to their little church inspired us, we felt so enthused by these people.
Those people we worked with and played with in our early days in Marriage Encounter really guided us; they took us by the hand and led us. They inspired us to greater things in our own relationship and showed us how we too could be apostolic.
Davis -
The very first time I felt an extraordinary strong call to mission deep in my guts happened on my original Marriage Encounter weekend. I was captivated by the strong sense of mission and love of our church, which the team couples, so obviously had. Their love, vision and enthusiasm were contagious, and I longed to work with them in some way. I came under the influence of extraordinary couples, Emy and Colin, Albert and Cecilia, Gerry and Marie, whose capacity for love, service and sheer hard work gave me a wholly new vision of what being apostolic meant. They had a remarkable gift of relationship and of making the Gospel speak to people of today. I always learnt so much just by being in their presence – little things, such as criticism kills, affirmation builds; and bigger things, such as every worthwhile meeting should contain three elements – formation, affirmation, and information. They were prayerful, reflective and wise when they began to found a new community, when they selected and formed leaders, when they communicated with all the relevant stakeholders, and when they confronted difficult problems within a particular community. They were my heroes, and my mentors, and I was able to share with them my own hopes and dreams, and my challenges and difficulties, in mission. Their commitment to the church and ME made me feel very close to them it was my privilege to have worked and the Unit co-ordinating team priest with Colin and Emy, Gerry and Marie. As NET I worked very closely with Chacko and Valsa for five years. Their sense of commitment to ME and capacity to work and ability to provide good and effective leadership made feel very close to them and we worked together for the growth of ME India. It was indeed a very enriching experience. As an ecclesial team we learned to share our negative and positive feelings; our concerns and constraints. As we worked together in leadership position I was challenged to reveal more of myself than I ever had before, and to communicate my own feelings, especially the negative ones that were affecting the relationships. And now as ACT, I am delighted to work with Alex and Agnes Cho fro Korea. They are efficient, committed, hardworking and loving. Though we are at different places we communicate through e-mail and phone calls and we have come very close to each other. We share the same dream of working as an effective ecclesial team for Asia. Now I begin to understand more deeply what an ecclesial team is all really about, and why this more relationship style of leadership is important for our church. I constantly thank all those couples who have shared their faith and love with me. I would like to tell all the NETs present here and in particular to all the couples that we love you and appreciate your partnership with us in the ministry of spreading the good news. Your commitment to ME and catholic church would always remain source of inspiration.
3. Priscilla & Aquila’s home as church
3.1 Davis-
We know that Paul’s first stay in Corinth lasted some 18 months and that we stayed with his newfound friends and fellow-minsters, Priscilla & Aquila, around 50AD. Several years Paul is residing in Ephesus, and in his first letter to the Corinthians which he writes from Ephesus (around 54AD) he sends: “hearty greeting in the Lord from Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house” (1 Cor 16/19). Clearly they have followed Paul, and their house in Ephesus has become the centre for Christian gathering in that city. By the time Paul writes the letter to the Romans several years later still (around 57AD) Aquila & Prisca have returned to Rome, and sure enough they establish “a church in their place”(Rom 16/5). They have become the centre of the local church wherever they are. Christians gather in their house for the weekly Eucharist, listening to God’s word, for baptisms for prayer and fellowship; their home is truly a domestic church, a house-church, a home that is always open to fellow believers, where there would be prayer-meetings, outreach to those in need, and discussions on mission.
3.1 Couple sharing
Alex –
Before our weekend my experience of Church in the Home was those times when we would have a house Mass. It never occurred to me that church existed outside the church building walls or for our family sometimes in our lounge. I really had no concept that church was about loving, about example and about reaching out. Church was an institution that had leaders called Priests that were there to save our souls, protect us from the fires of hell, save us from the loneliness of purgatory and to prepare us for heaven. If anyone had said Agnes’s and my relationship was a little church I would have looked sideways at him or her. My time in Marriage Encounter has shed a new light on Church. I now know that when I love Agnes I am reflecting Christ’s love that is church. I know when I am reaching out to others, that is church. I know when I am supporting and loving our Priests, that is church. I know that when our light is shining like the lighthouse beacon that is church. I know that our love relationship is a refection of Christs love relationship with his spouse, the church. I know that church is people and that my relationship with people is a mirror of church. Before my weekend I had no idea of the power of a relationship with a priest. As I have said, Priests were holy people, set apart, to be revered not loved. How wrong I was. My acceptance of Priests as people, as men needing love and acceptance was a changing point in my relationship with the church. What a powerful sign to the world of Christs love for his people is the ecclesial relationship of a priest and a couple. For me, the relationship of Aquila, Pricilla and Paul is a shining example of this relationship church that we now know is the mirror of Christ. So from being raised in an atmosphere of church as an institution I am now blessed with the knowledge that church in our home has nothing to do with visits from priests, house masses or saying the rosary, but all about being a living shining light of a relationship way of life, it is all about reflecting Christs love to the world through my relationships. And the good part is that there is no sacrifice involved, the more I love, the more I receive, the more I forgive, and the more I am forgiven. Now when I speak of church in my home I no longer mean my house, I mean my heart because it is in my heart that I keep all those that I love.
Agnes -
On our original weekend the concept of “little church” really captured. My imagination. The couples on the weekend presented it in such a way that I could relate to. Here I was being presented with a concept that I could take home and use in my own life, a concept that could only bring life to our relationship.
Over the years since those couples planted that seed in my heart about “little Church” my understanding and growth in this area has been great. I’ve learnt about my love relationship with Alex mirroring the love relationship we have with God. What an amazing, freeing, growth-inducing concept this has been in our life.
Knowing that my holiness is intimately linked with my relationship brings the church into my home. It makes my home a holy place, a sacred place, a place where God is lifted up and revered on a daily basis.
Being a part of an ecclesial team has been a wondrous journey for us. Until this new journey we have always been an ecclesial team with Fr Peter. We have journeyed with him, laughed with him, trialogued with him, cried with him, argued with him, and loved him. Over the years he has become a part of our family, he comes to our home not as a guest but as a special family member who is always welcome and who fits in as a close family member does. We share such wonderful memories with Peter, the travel stories, the playing stories, going to shows together, the list goes on. When Peter recently moved his parish we were automatically asked to speak at his our situation and take dinner earlier this year. Peter brings richness to our family church and he truly is an intimate part of the fabric of our lives.
3.1 Davis-
When we come to 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter, we are in the last year of his life, 64AD. Paul is in prison in Rome and his life’s work is almost over. In 2 Tim 4/1 the couple is mentioned again, and it is quite possible they are back in the East and that their home is once again a house-church. Paul’s friendship with this couple has lasted through 15 years, and has obviously been a source of support and inspiration for him.
Davis-
I can say without the shadow of a doubt that my chief inspiration in my personal life and in my priesthood has been the close friendship I have with several couples. Friendship with five couples in particular began with the leadership position we shared as an ecclesial team and weekend teams. We naturally went through our communication difficulties and struggles with our own superiorities and inferiorities. We learnt more about our personality styles and our behaviour patterns, and began to trust each other on a deeper level, we shared more fully our hopes and dreams, our difficulties and our pain. I was challenged not only to stay in the relationship, but to be committed to being intimate and responsible always. I began to relax more fully, and found myself sharing aspects of my life that I never had before; the more I shared, the more I was drawn into the relationship. I realized that I became more open and trusting with my staff members (all Professors) young University students and parishioners of the Cathedral church where I have been serving for the past23 years, and far more positive and affirming in my general approach to life. On behalf all the priests here I would like to thank all the couple here leaders of WWME, for your partnership in the gospel. I appreciate very much your strong sense of commitment to each other and church and ME. I have learned much form you r commitment, “in good times and bad, in sickness and health, in adversity and prosperity I shall honour you and love and remain true to you, till death do us part.” It is so easy for a priest to ask for a transfer when the relationship between the priest and people are not so pleasing. Where as you stick to one model!! In my many retreats I have preached to Religious and Priest, I have told them that I consider my parents as holier than me; so is the case for every priest and Religious!!! Their life of fidelity and love, sacrifice and devotion has always inspired and motivated me.
After leadership our friendship grew. I had gained so much on a personal level. I valued the intimacy we shared immensely. Whenever I was struggling our trialogue would so quickly remind me of the love, which was surrounding me. Whenever I needed advice or counselling their attentive listening and honest challenging would bring wisdom and perspective to the situation. Our relationship has been part and parcel of my personal and spiritual journey. They have helped me move beyond the institutional church with all its shortcomings and failures, and any anger I might have with it, to a more accepting level of life where relationship, community, mystery of faith and trust in the Lord are the essentials. Their relationship and their wonderful faith remind me of what is essential,
Over the years their home became my home, and I was always welcomed as part of their family, especially at special family celebrations. I felt loved and respected both as a human being and as a priest. I often think that they are my Bethany in my journey through life. You see I’m pretty sure that Jesus’ most intimate friendships were with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, rather than with his disciples, and I know that a lifelong friendship is one of the sweetest joys in life, which I am sure was also prized by Jesus.
SHARING: WHAT DOES IDEA OF OUR HOME As a LITTLE CHURCH MEAN TO ME TODAY?
How does it make me feel now?
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