Patrick's Work

Patrick's Books and CDs

FROM GLARE TO GAZE

Jesus' Beatitudes and the Journey (2 CDs)

Presentation One: Jesus' Beatitudes: what could he mean?

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the proclamation of the beatitudes, which can seem bizarre, unreal and naïve at best. What could Jesus have been trying to say by these seemingly cryptic riddles? What do they have to do with practical life and loving? How are we to understand the rather threatening tones of "Woe to you!" that are in Luke's Gospel? This presentation was given to the Emmanuel Community Seniors in March 2011.

Presentation Two: Some marks of maturing on the journey

One of the great joys of companioning others in spiritual direction is helping them to link their individual story to the larger and more human story - and explicitly to the Great Story of the Scriptures. In this excerpt from a talk to the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction (Qld) in February 2011, Patrick offers his thoughts as to how we might be able to see some everyday maturing in the lives of directees.

95 mins a 2-CD set $15 plus $6 postage and packaging

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NO AGENDA BUT LOVE

Your story within the Great Story

A short booklet of reflections

by Patrick Oliver

We all have met many people who live lives that reflect the graceful, generous, forgiving, non-violent and simple lifestyle that is written all over the pages of the gospels.

We don’t “get to God”; it’s more about letting God get to us.

It’s not so much about becoming holy, as about being wholly human – and therefore celebrating and living from the holiness that we already are – but don’t realize it, and mightn’t even call it as such.

It’s more about accepting, holding and letting Love into the reality of what is – in all of its beauty and its blemishes, its hope and its hells.

Being lovingly present to whatever is is the encounter with God, and the great stories of the gospels become enfleshed within our lives – whether or not we name them as encounters with God.

This manuscript celebrates the lives of all those

who’ve risked living boldly, faithfully, tenderly and truly –

all in the name of Love.

28 pp $10 plus $5 postage and packaging

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---TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK - NEW COPIES WILL ARRIVE IN FEBRUARY ---

Patrick says of this talk:

It has been a privilege for me to have listened to many thousands of dreams through the years, and I am always amazed at the creativity and ingenuity that they bring forth. We seem often to be far more creative when we are asleep then when awake!

A dream can be like a lighthouse, beaconing and beckoning us through those times when perhaps everything else has seemed to turn to night. Rather than dreams leading us away from the presence of God, I have found that dreams can mirror the great Gospel themes of reconciliation, grace, healing and love.

They lead us into death and out again. Like the biblical theme of the least being the vital element, the disregarded and ignored dream is, as the Jewish rabbis liked to put it, “like a letter that is unopened from God”.

This talk was presented at a Brisbane Pastoral Carers' gathering in October 2010.

108 mins a 2-CD set $15 plus $6 postage and packaging

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CD:

Soulspace

This series of talks was presented in September 2010, at a Reflection Day sponsored by the Caloundra Spirituality Support Group. Its focus was the care of the soul, and how this soul care invites prayerfulness and presence to all that is.

Patrick enlarges on some Gospel stories, in order to provide a portal through which we can drop into an awareness of the God who is Presence itself. He takes us through re-looking at how failure and brokenness can be invitations into an eternal relationship with Love.

Talk 1 The Soul of God Talk 2 Sitting by the Well Wall Talk 3 Passages into Eternity

116 mins. 2 CD set $15 plus $6 postage and packaging

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CD:

Pregnant with God: Mary's Story and Ours

One of the emblems of the Christian Brothers is that of the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This 2 CD series of

talks was given to the Taringa community of the Christian Brothers in June 2010, and looks at ways in which we can

appreciate how Mary is a gift for those who wish to live their lives more in union with Christ. She demonstrates how

she – like we – are invited to be both nurtured and empowered by the gracious God.

Talk 1 Being trusted by God Talk 2 Giving birth to God Talk 3 Sharing God’s breath

95 mins. 2 CD set $15 plus $6 postage and packaging

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CD:

Time to Grow Up -

Living into our Eternal Destiny

This series of talks was presented at the Christian Meditation Community’s retreat day in November 2009.Patrick reminds us that eternal life isn’t a prize in the future for those who’ve fulfilled certain requirements, but it’s about sharing in God’s presence now.

Heaven and hell are real – but not as places we get sent to because we’ve passed or failed a moral exam. God’s judgment and justice are real – but not as we may have thought.

Talk 1 You’re already home Talk 2 Justice and mercy embrace Talk 3 Some sticky scriptures

102 mins. 2 CD set $15 plus $6 postage and packaging

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The Freeing of God:

Revisiting the Gospels in the Second Half of Life

Sadly, countless people through the years have been bruised and bludgeoned through the misuse and abuse of the scriptures. The liberating message of the Gospel so often has been twisted into a voice of condemnation, a confirmation of self-hate, and a reinforcer of people’s fear of themselves as a failure – and it’s this abuse that “The Freeing of God” sets out to offset.

Hopefully somewhere along the line we gradually learn that love can’t be earned, that peace of soul can’t be bought and that forgiving life for being imperfect is the only way through.

In this “second half of life”, we can let mistakes and wounds be the way into deeper loving, we can let ourselves and others be mixtures of light and shadow, and we can surrender the need to be something other than who we are. Such shifts in perspective also change the way we let the gospels tell us of who God is …

“The Freeing of God” revisits every chapter and verse of the four Gospels, and recounts them in a way that breathes a contemporary and soulful perspective through Jesus’ stories and teachings.

326 pp. $30 plus $10 postage and packaging

“Mature seekers will become more mature here, and immature seekers will see how far they still have to journey to recognize and receive the infinite riches of Christ. This is a fine presentation, and deserves a broad hearing.”

– Fr Richard Rohr OFM

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CD:

Excerpts from the book

‘The Freeing of God’

This CD contains selections of passages from the text of Patrick’s book that is a re-rendering of the Gospels, written not from a moral perspective but from a prayerful and mystical standpoint (see details of the book “The Freeing of God”).

1 Introduction 2 The Prologue 3 Nicodemus 4 The Rich Young Man 5 The Adulterous Woman

6 The Sign of Jonah 7 The Washing of the Feet 8 The Way, the Truth and the Life 9 The Crucifixion 10 The Emmaus Story 11 Peter after the Resurrection

76 mins. 1 CD set $10 plus $6 postage and packaging

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A God to Fall Into:

Seven Echoes of the Great Adventure

of Living in the Heart of God

This spirituality kit was self-published in 2005. It gives a way into the key elements of the Christian tradition by distilling seven major themes or “echoes” that run through the scriptures. These echoes are each divided into ten sub-themes that break open their richness in the scriptures and in the essence of Christian spirituality. It comes with a total of one hundred and five meditation cards. The ways of using this kit for prayer are endless.

Themes: Living life-death-life; It’s about grace, not collecting badges; It’s never what you expect; Engagement and detachment; The discovery and expansion of soulspace; Prayer and non-violence; There is only One

186 pp. $30 plus $10 postage and packaging

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Drinking Deeply:

Learning to Listen

to the Song of Your Soul

Self-published in 1999, this book takes mythological motifs from around the world to illustrate how the spiritual journey is an integral part of being human. Drinking Deeply uses many dreams as jumping-off points for showing the beauty, subtleties and challenges of the Journey.

A: Story and the great adventure B. The path of the great adventure

C: Some motifs of the great adventure D. The great adventure in the sermon on the mount

164 pp. $10 plus $6 postage and packaging

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Getting Out of the Way:

the Essence of Spirituality Put Simply

This book undercuts our tendency to hide behind religious language, by re-looking at key elements of Christianity as invitations for authentic transformation.

Written in the aftermath of September 11, it highlights the connection between blindness and violence, fear and hatred. It goes to the core of transformation and the Christian journey, and gives a way of conversing that allows us to avoid the minefields and misunderstandings of religious language.

A: Getting out of the way: openness to the adventure B: “Know thyself!”: the importance of self-knowledge C: Jesus: the human face of God D: Living as Jesus: the pattern of being fully human

157 pp. $10 plus $6 postage and handling

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The Track Back:

The Spirit in Australian Creation

This book was published in 1993 by St Paul Publications in Sydney. Based on the work of the medieval mystic Meister

Eckhart and written in a reflective style, it takes examples of Australian fauna and flora to illustrate phases of prayer and

contemplation.

A: Encircling: the via positiva B: Shedding: the via negativa C. Birthing: the via creativa D: Renewing: the via transformativa

107 pp. $5 plus $6 postage and handling

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ORDER FORM

 CD: From Glare to Gaze: Jesus' Beatitudes and the Journey $15 + 6 p&p

 No Agenda But Love: Your story within the Great Story $10 + $5 p&p

 The Freeing of God: Revisiting the Gospels in the Second Half of Life $30 + $10 p&p

 CD: Praying Your Dreams $15 + $6 p&p

 CD: Soulspace $15 + $6 p&p

 CD: Pregnant with God: Mary’s Story and Ours $15 + $6 p&p

 CD: Time to Grow Up: Living into our Eternal Destiny $15 + $6 p&p

 CD: Excerpts from “The Freeing of God” $10 + $6 p&p

 A God to Fall Into:

Seven Echoes of the Great Adventure of Living in the Heart of God $30 + $10 p&p

 Getting Out of the Way: the Essence of Spirituality Put Simply $10 + $6 p&p

 Drinking Deeply: Learning to Listen to the Song of Your Soul $10 + $6 p&p

 The Track Back: the Spirit in Australian Creation $5 + $6 p&p

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Address ________________________________________________________

__________________________________________P’code ________

I enclose cheque/money order for $ __________ , which includes both the unit price plus postage and packaging. (cheques payable to Patrick Oliver)

Mail to: Patrick Oliver 94 Reuben St Stafford Q 4053

Telephone: (07) 3356 4218

Email: patrickoliver01@gmail.com

· Excerpts from an interview with Jan Herring in January 2006.

So what made you write on “A God to Fall Into: Seven Echoes …”

I wanted to find a way whereby people could get a sense of what is in the spirit of the “Great Tradition” of Christian teaching and what is not. When we are faced with the myriad of opinions, comments, books and biases of people’s reflections on the Christian Scriptures, it can be quite confusing and overwhelming. I wanted to provide a kind of ready-reckoner, a little discernment tool to help us see what lines up with the Tradition and what doesn’t. It isn’t the last word, only hopefully a little help along the way. On the personal level, I get tired of people pulling out this half-verse and that half-verse and stringing them together to get whatever meaning they want to fit their bias; it’s such an abuse of the Scriptural tradition. I also wanted to show the reader the perennial relevance and timelessness of scripture as well. You can get such a perspective not by simply cutting and pasting verses here and there, but by seeing and recognising the overall great patterns, which I call “echoes”. I suppose it took about two years to read through the Lectionary and observe what themes kept coming up. As I was reading, my hunch was that those themes that kept arising would be “meeting points” which would provide common ground with other religions and denominations, because God’s Spirit isn’t contained by geographical or cultural boundaries. The biblical story is the human story of divine encounter.

How do your Seven Echoes come into this retreat?

The invitations of the Holy Spirit go on in our lives whether or not we name them in religious terminology. Transformation and conversion happen in the ordinary stuff of life, and if it doesn’t happen there it’s not happening.

It doesn’t matter to God whether you’ve got the right terminology. The Seven Echoes hopefully cover much of the “stuff” of life – the joys and sorrows, the personal interactions, the warp and woof that makes up the everyday. They are designed to help us read Scripture with a deeper insight, so connections with daily life can be made more readily. These seven echoes are the “life-death-life pattern”, “it’s about grace and not collecting badges”, “God’s never what you expect”, “engagement and detachment”, “the discovery and expansion of soulspace”, “the two-sided coin of prayer and non-violence”, and “there is only One”. When we’re aware of the great themes of the scriptures, we don’t so easily get thrown off and miss the wood for the trees.

Eternal life isn’t simply something to happen down the track, but it’s also taking place “in the now”. Right now you’re living within God, and life after death is the fullness of how you’re choosing to live now. If your desire is to live within the One Love of God, then that is where you find your home. Eternal life is the life that happens within God – and that is the only real life there is.