I am always delighted to receive mail from people who appreciate my brother's work
More than 27 years after he died, I see Tony reaching out to so many people.
Thank you Franco for your very kind words and continuing interest.
Dear Bill,
Thank you so much for your personal e-mail confirming my purchase.




What an honour it is for me to be writing directly to Fr Tony’s brother!! And what joy it is to see your efforts to keep his work alive and spread new material, hence my interest in Swansong.
I have bought all known published works by and about your brother and they are my most prized books (I even bought the same books twice because they had different titles for the US and the rest of the world, silly me).
I also enjoyed immensely your very well written biography Happy Wanderer. Thank you.
I do not wish to bore you with too long an e-mail but I’d like to tell you that I came across your brother’s life work through a reference in one of Wayne Dyer’s works. Wayne Dyer being impressed by a Jesuit? This I had to explore. I saw Fr Tony for the first time on YouTube and I was hooked for life. This man was special. He spoke in a way I had never heard before, and believe me here in Malta we are full of Catholic priests and churches - I myself was brought up in Catholic schools and come from a Catholic family. But no one spoke about religion, spirituality and the human condition like Fr Tony. He was a true mystic. He truly understood things that ordinary mortals find hard to grasp.
On a personal note, despite my years of listening to him, watching him on video (Awareness CDs, Rediscovery of Life, A Way to God for Today and Wake Up) and reading his works, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, continually finding new insights in what he says, I still haven’t tasted the Anand that special persons like your brother derive from the unknowable. Perhaps my shell is particularly hard to crack or, as he says in one of his humorous asides, I like living in a cesspool, just don’t make waves please.
Please do continue shedding Fr Tony’s light on this troubled world with any new material you encounter.
With utmost respect and love to you and your family,
Franco,

My brother delivered a seminar in Poona, India, in May 1987, just a few days before he departed India to conduct a satellite seminar in the USA, where he died before that seminar began.
The India retreat would have been lost forever, were it not for a couple of disciples who took meticulous notes of this seminar. I received these notes from them some months ago and I have transcribed this seminar. It is now available by writing to Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Tony's official publisher in India. booksgsp@gmail.com
I hope that you, followers and friends of Tony, will avail yourselves of this book.
I will continue to do my best to post on this page( Anthony deMello-Call to Love Facebook page) as often as I can, in the hope that all who visit here, enjoy snippets of my brother's Wisdom.
My thanks to all who visit and send me messages of encouragement.

In case you did not notice, I'm posting another article by Michael Barnes SJ. The Jesuits in Britain have devoted each month of this year to a prominent Jesuit who is no longer with us.


http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/anthony-de-mello-sj

Twenty seven years after he died, Tony is still revered and talked about by scores of people.
The following article is very interesting:
http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/anthony-de-mello-fire

I didn't watch Joe Hockey deliver his budget last night; but from what I am reading today, It appears it's going to hurt a lot of people.
Maybe someone who reads this blog could pass this post on to Hockey. It would show him millions of dollars of savings in Medicare. Instead of slugging people for a visit to the GP, Medicare could reap millions more if the guidelines on referrals were revised and adapted.
Recent health problems I have experience and the number of visits to my GP to obtain referrals to specialists, prompted me to think and share my concerns with a few people about this system which can and should be changed. Instead of targeting those who can least afford it( Pensioners, the unemployed, struggling families and a number of other Australians) I wonder if Hockey knows he is sitting on a gold mine. Do a bit of digging Joe. Who knows, you may discover a diamond mine as well!
Please do spend a bit of time to read and listen to the short clip on the link below:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-13/annual-specialist-referrals-wasting-millions-say-gps/5447822

Does Friendship replace Love?

It’s not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

Friedrich Nietzsche.

I read this quote a few days ago and have since been thinking about the truth in this statement. Mr Nietzsche makes a good point; but I believe the same applies to families in general, not only married couples.

I have also read somewhere that friendship comes at a cost. But why does it have to? Suppose us humans left everyone free - to be themselves. Do you know what that would produce? It produces free people with no fear of reprisals and it produces another thing-Friendship.

Within a family, one tends to become possessive, even aggressive at times and to demand that the other comply with our views and likes and dislikes, thus taking away the freedom of thought, speech and action from another. I plead guilty to all of the above!  This attitude produces conflict and unhappiness.

I have thought long and hard about the wisdom in words written by my brother Anthony (Tony) deMello, in a posthumously published book titled, Call to Love. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash (booksgsp@gamil.com). The book contains 31 meditations on daily living-In Freedom! Nietzsche I think would agree with Tony. Particularly with the meditation I quote:

MEDITATION 6

CLINGING IS DYING

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

M t. 8, 20

Here is a mistake that most people make in their relationships with others. They try to build a steady nesting place in the ever moving stream of life.

Think of someone whose love you desire. Do you want to be important to this person, to be especial and make a difference to his/her life?

Do you want this person to care for you and be concerned about you in a special way? If you do, open your eyes and see that you are foolishly inviting others to reserve you for themselves, to restrict your freedom for their benefit, to control your behaviour, your growth and development so that it will suit their interest.

It is as if the other person said to you, “If you want to be especial to me then you must meet my conditions. Because the moment you cease to live up to my expectations, you will cease to be especial.” You wanted to be especial to someone, didn’t you? So you must pay a price in lost freedom. You must dance to the other person’s tune just as you demand that other persons dance to yours if they want to be especial to you.

Pause now to ask yourself if it is worth paying so much for so little.

Imagine you say to this person whose special love you want, “Leave me free to be myself, to think my thoughts, to indulge my taste, to follow my inclination, to behave in ways that I decide are to my liking.”

The moment you say those words you will understand that you are asking for the impossible. To ask to be especial to someone means essentially to be bound to the task of making yourself pleasing to this person. And therefore to lose your freedom. Take all the time you need to realize this.

May be now you are ready to say, “I’d rather have my freedom than your love.” If you could either have company in prison or walk the earth in freedom all alone, which would you choose?

Now say to this person, “I leave you free to be yourself, to think your thoughts, to indulge your taste, follow your inclinations, and behave in any way that you decide is to your liking.”

The moment you say that you will observe one of two things:

Either your heart will resist those words and you will be exposed for the clinger and exploiter that you are (so now is the time to examine your false belief that without this person you cannot live or cannot be happy);

Or your heart will pronounce the words sincerely and in that very instant all control, manipulation, exploitation, possessiveness, jealousy will drop. “I leave you free to be yourself: to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations, and behave in ways that you decide are to your liking.”

And you will notice something else:

The person automatically ceases to be especial and important to you.

And he/she becomes important the way a sunset or a symphony is lovely in itself, the way a tree is especial in itself and not for the fruit or the shade that it can offer you. Your beloved will then belong not to you but to everyone or to no one like the sunrise and the tree.

Test it by saying those words again: “I leave you free to be yourself... “

In saying those words you have set yourself free. You are now ready to love. For when you cling, what you offer the other is not love but a chain by which both you and your beloved are bound. Love can only exist in freedom. The true lover seeks the good of his beloved which requires especially the liberation of the beloved from the lover.

Need I say more? 

I know...........I have been absent from this blog for ages. Health issues and other matters left me somewhat drained and uninterested.
But I'm back and I hope I can engage you to participate too. Here's a new post for 2014! Long live Liberty- of speech, or anything and of course(something no one can control-THOUGHT!

Onward Christian Soldier?

I don’t normally buy a national newspaper; I’m content to browse the pages of my ‘Free’ local paper, The Manly Daily. Yesterday, I happened to be the recipient of The Sydney Morning Herald, courtesy of our ex-neighbour. She has moved on to another home in the area and sent me a text message to say I was welcome to take possession of her copy of the Sydney Morning Herald, which I did. I then proceeded to ‘browse’ the pages of the publication.

For those who are unfamiliar with the political scene and goings on in Sydney Australia- A little over a week ago, Sydney siders were shocked to learn that our ‘squeaky clean’ ex-Premier Barrie O’Farrell had resigned from the premiership having been ‘caught out’ over a bottle of very expensive wine. Turns out, a lobbyist had ‘gifted’ him a bottle of Grange worth AUD 3000/- no doubt expecting favours in return. It so happened that Barrie did no such thing (good on him) and I am led to believe that the lobbyist then dobbed poor Barrie in to the ICAC. That’s Independent Commission against Corruption (for those who don’t know). When asked about it, he said he could not recall having ever received it. Mind you, the lobbyist paid attention to detail, in that the Grange in question was bottled on O’Farrell’s birthday- 1959 and on the exact day of Barrie’s birth-I forget now, which date that was but who cares anyway. It’s sad really; to lose a position of such importance and responsibility over a bottle of wine; no matter how expensive the drop.

Anyway, enter Mike Barid, the new Premier. He is my local(Manly) member of parliament and from all outward appearances, a nice enough fellow. I pass him by often when I am on my early morning walk along the sea front and he has on occasion, returned my smile and nod of G’day. I often saw Bruce Baird (Mike’s father) walking his dog along the said sea front, even after he had moved from NSW state politics to the Federal arena. The tradition it seems, continues in the family.

Back to the issue of the SMH 26^th April 2014 and page three with a picture of Mike Baird and the caption, “Onward Christian soldier- a premier’s faith”. The article goes on to describe Barid junior as a family man with religious Christian beliefs. In fact it reports that he even considered becoming an Anglican minister before entering politics.

For those interested, please access the article with the following link:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/onward-christian-soldier-a-premiers-faith-20140425-379pp.html

No harm in this religious fervour. I sincerely hope though, that young Mike has considered that every religion believes “their God” created the Universe and controls all forms of life-and for that matter death and the afterlife too. So hopefully Mike Baird will be astute and compassionate enough as Premier, to recognise that we are human beings first and foremost-nothing else matters. I hope he is sincere when he says he will govern the state of New South Wales for everyone. That he will not personally discriminate or be influenced to by his team of reportedly fervent Christians, against people of other faiths and that includes people of NO religious faith too!

I read with interest, comments reportedly made by Mike’s chief of staff, Bay Warburton, ''I've served Jesus in a number of different jobs and now I'm serving Jesus as a chief of staff,'' Mr Warburton said. ''And Mike, who's the Treasurer - he believes he's serving Jesus as the Treasurer of the state. He believes that he has a great opportunity to help people by making responsible decisions about the money from this state.''

He said he prayed for guidance before taking a job to make ''wise choices''. ''And how do you do that? Well, you read your Bible … and you understand what God's plan for your life is and how he wants us to make choices and what sort of criteria we should use to make those choices.''

Mr Warburton told the students they were privileged to learn about ''the Lord of the universe who put stars in the sky, who created the world, who created every single part of what we live in, who created each and every one of us''.

I’d like to remind Mr Warburton, that people of other religious inclinations believe (as mentioned earlier) that “Their Lord, is the Lord of the Universe”. Try convincing them otherwise. I hope you are not going to impose ‘your Lord’ on all these people of other religious faiths, Mr Warburton. And what about those who simply don’t believe in any “Lord of the universe”?

Reverend Freddy Nile would be pleased by all this Christian spirit in the upper echelons of the NSW parliament. Consider what the article further reports:

Mr Warburton is not the only like-minded colleague in Mr Baird's inner circle. A notable addition to cabinet is his close friend Rob Stokes, the new environment minister, who holds a diploma in Bible studies. During Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony Mr Stokes omitted the words ''under God''.

He later said the decision was guided by Matthew's gospel in which Jesus frowned upon the swearing of oaths.

Jesus frowned on many things. Barrie learnt a bitter lesson when he misled ICAC on that very expensive bottle of Grange. And Jesus would have frowned on that no doubt! But unlike ICAC, Jesus would have also forgiven Barrie. The ICAC didn’t- that’s only human! J

The article reveals even more of what’s to come into the parliament of NSW:

New finance minister Dominic Perrottet - a former protégé of one-time ''religious right'' faction leader David Clarke - attended Redfield College in Dural, a school run by the conservative Catholic order Opus Dei.

Mr Clarke, whose wife Maria-Louise is an Opus Dei member, remains parliamentary secretary for justice.

Throw into the mix the deputy Premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner - who attends the evangelical C3 church - and the Baird/Stoner government is shaping as the most devout in living memory.

Mike, the good citizens of NSW don’t need devout leaders. What they need are honest men and women to act in the interests of ALL citizens no matter what their race, colour or religious persuasions; if any.

Let me be fair in also transcribing (from Sean Nicholls’ article) what Mike said about his (Mike Baird’s) religious convictions and faith:

But Mr Baird rejected the notion his government would be influenced by the strength of religious belief in his office or his cabinet. ''I'm not going to hide who I am and what's important to me, but I govern for everyone,'' he said.

He said faith ''is a matter for the individual''. ''My position has been clear in the Parliament,'' Mr Baird said.

''I don't go into Parliament and seek to legislate that. I'll respond on the basis of conscience.''

It’s nice to know this fact Mike. But is the next little tit bit true?

Mr Baird is on the record as opposing same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research and same sex adoption. However, he committed to allowing Liberal MPs a free vote on such matters, as did Mr O'Farrell.

I wonder if Jesus would have frowned on Gays, Lesbians or same sex marriage. Jesus is reported to have said to a blood thirsty mob of self-righteous (so called) stalwarts of the law, “Let he who is free of sin, cast the first stone!

Mike, please consider our Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, gay, lesbian brothers, sisters and people of all walks of life, living in NSW and the world, when you make decisions concerning their welfare. You have been entrusted with a very important job. I sincerely hope your religious beliefs (Faith and belief are not the same thing, Mike) do not interfere with the general welfare of the people of NSW on religious grounds.  Religion and Politics don’t mix. Remember Mike, Jesus is also reported to have said, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God, what is God’s”!

Bless you J!