TODAY IS RECONCILIATION SUNDAY

WHAT DOES ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY HAVE TO OFFER AUSTRALIA
Time, or rather timelessness, is another component of Aboriginal life and spirituality.  Time to the European mind is a commodity to be used.  For the Aboriginal  person, time  is  the present – the given moment is what is important.  Aboriginal people are comfortable waiting for a better moment, changing plans, going with what is happening. The greatest gift Aboriginal people have to offer is the gift of Dadirri, that is, the gift described as ‘inner deep listening and quiet still awareness’.  There is  a patience  in  the listening, patience for the right time.  In the listening comes strength and renewal.  Our experience of wind is varied, from the parching winds of inland Australia  to  the  cool winds that signal a break in the weather.  The Aboriginal people are attuned to these changes, always patiently waiting and watching for signs of change.  We use wind as a symbol of the movement  of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Job 7,7; Mt 11,7).  The formation of stars we call the Southern Cross is significant in the Southern Hemisphere.  As it journeys across the night sky it is a symbol of our life journey through the Paschal Mystery of birth, death and resurrection (Dan 12,3; Mt 2,2)…..Parish Social Justice Group