An Instant Mood-changer

May 31: The Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth

Read the Gospel for this Feast if you can: Luke 1:39-51.

On this day we recall that wonderful meeting of four people: Mary and Elizabeth, and Jesus Christ and St. John the Baptist. Jesus and John are in the womb yet they still seem to communicate, and the communication is filled with joy as John leaps in his mother’s womb.

Among other things, this encounter demonstrates to us that what is in the womb is a viable human being capable of feeling and emotion. I’ll leave that for you to consider at another time.

The Holy Spirit is also present at this meeting and is mentioned in the Gospel text. The Holy Spirit is present in us also, at every moment, whether we are conscious of Him or not. “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba, Father!’ (Gal 4:6). In the text, the Spirit inspires Elizabeth to call out “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” And there we have the first half of our beloved prayer Hail Mary.

Mary responds to Elizabeth in joy and what bursts forth from her lips are the verses of the prayer we call the Magnificat, which the Church prays at Vespers every night.

Mary’s prayer is revolutionary. The normal pattern of the world is turned upside down, and what Mary has to say has most likely inspired Pope Francis in some of his teaching about caring for the poor and downtrodden. Consider the revolutionary terms of the Magnificat:

·         the proud are scattered in their conceit

·         the mighty are cast from their thrones

·         the lowly are lifted up

·         the hungry are fed

·         the rich are sent away empty

The prayer is prophetic. Not all of this has been accomplished yet, but it is part of what we hope for and continually pray for.

My most favorite part of the Magnificat are the first two phrases:

·         My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

·         my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.

Every night, these verses lift me up and serve as a reminder that in all times and in all places, we are to give thanks to God. Some nights I might not be in a very good mood. Some nights I might be distracted, or hurting from some slight, or are angry about some trivial thing and I’m just going through the motions, so to speak. These lines interrupt my negative thinking and like a burst of lightning, they banish my darkness, and I beging to rejoice with the Blessed Mother and also rejoice in the Holy Spirit.

Let these verses penetrate your heart. Sit quietly for a few moments and repeat them to yourself over and over, as a mantra. You may find a smile in your heart and spirit which will eventually rise to your face. Rejoice!

God bless you!

Notes on Prayer

Just a few notions about Prayer today, taken from the retreat talks we heard last week:

·         Most of the time, time for prayer must be set at the expense of other pursuits or entertainments. Because of this, there is always a sacrificial quality to prayer.

·         Prayer requires us to deliberately expel from consciousness anything that would distract: memories, aggravations, resentments, regrets, plans for the future.

·         We must curtail our servitude to functional rationality. Let what comes up come up without censoring or trying to organize anything.

·         Prayer is an act of giving, so give what you have. Let go of any and all preconceived notions of what prayer is supposed to be like or what formulae it must follow.

·         “Mud prayer” (i.e., prayer at its most disorganized, even lazy, negative or discheveled thoughts) is powerful prayer. Don’t restrain it.

·         There are always reasons for not praying: don’t pay attention to them.

·         Mark 1:25  “Jesus went out and away to a quiet place.” We do well to do the same. Have a particular place for prayer that is different from what we usually use. Get away as much as possible.

·         The highest form of prayer is apophatic: quiet stillness.

·         We don’t have to stage-manage our prayer. Just set back and allow it to happen. “Let it all hang out.” Give voice to those things which you usually wouldn’t dare uttering. God knows all. He already knows what you’re trying to hold back. Don’t hold anything back. Give all you have, no  matter how disfigured it might seem to you.

God bless you!

Corpus Christi 2016

Corpus Christi 2016   ---The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

It was during those quiet moments at Mass after we had all received communion and were back at our seats that it happened. As I sat there one day, I could see “with the eyes of my heart” how strongly Christ was present with us, and with us, and most importantly, in us, because we had all tasted of the Eucharistic Banquet and were now at what for us would probably be the most holy moment of our week.

And I was overwhelmed by the realization that we were all united, all linked in Christ, all of us there in that church who had received the Gift that cost Jesus Christ so much to give.

And then beyond that, I thought of all the people across the world who had received that gift and how we, too, were united in Him. And beyond that I thought of all the people from the beginning at the Last Supper who had also received the gift, and how we, too, were united in Him.

And beyond that, coming back to the local church where I was seated, I sensed that we all were carrying some sort of burden, some particular set of issues, some struggles, some sorrows, some failures as well and how none of that mattered in the presence of Christ.

And I prayed that in some small way at least, I would be able to act in light of the fact that were were all related, all linked, all Christ-bearers. It would be a challenge. It has always been a challenge.

And that is OK. Because challenges are the very essence of the spiritual journey, and we are never challenged to act on our own as if we were not connected to the Banquet and as if we did not carry Him within us.

And I made a good thanksgiving that day.

God bless you!

The conversion experience: notes from a retreat

More about the conversion experience. (My notes from our retreat conferences at St. Anselm Abbey this summer.)

Conversion comes to us as a gift from God. It comes to us through several means:

·         a moment of acute spiritual experience; perhaps an experience of compunction or an experience of waking up from a stale, sleepy state of mind.

·         something that takes us out of our routines. Suddenly, things begin changing with any noticeable effort on our part. Things are happening to us from outside of us and things move along quite easily.

·         It comes to us through relationships. We become drawn to some person, some figure in our life who becomes a model for us.

·         The counsel and advice of a wise person leads us to conversion.

·         Books, plays, movies, the words and deeds of children awaken our insight.

·         Disaster is often a gift from God, which creates a new and higher interpretation of the former aspects of our life. As a result we become liberated from staleness. Therefore whenever disaster strikes, look for the God-message within, look to the promise and the possibilities it may lead us to. Through this event we are becoming liberated from staleness.

·         This conversion stays with us until the end of life. We can never see what’s around the corner, but we are led through a life-long process.

·         As a result of a conversion experience, it often happens that we stop trying to master-plan everything but let go of the obsession to be in control of every aspect of our lives.

·         We begin living from the deep self. The average person lives a life entrapped by superficiality. After a conversion experience, we get liberated from that superficiality and get in touch with what we couldn’t perceive before, with what is now available to us. Since you have been raised to life with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. (Col 3:1)

If you understand these things and begin to think about them, keep in mind something which was urged by Theophan the Recluse: Man is a doing creature. What is in the mind is only in the mind. For it to become complete, it must be translated into a different way of doing what we do in the world. Keep that in mind, and then when the opportunity comes, put it into action. Pray for this grace.

God bless you!

The Desire for God requires renunciations

This is the second day of my community’s annual retreat. What I offer here comes from the conference(s) we have been listening to.

The Desire for God

As you read this, you need to remember that these addresses are being given to a monastic community.

Ideally, the desire for God is the most meaningful aspect of our lives. We normally live in a state of incompleteness where we are dissatisfied at the root of our being. “Is this all there is?” is a question we are likely to ask. We become dissatisfies with where we are in life and desire something more. But this desire is very vague and undefined. If we set our goal on some achievement or some possession, once we attain it, once again we ask ourselves “Is this all there is?”

And so we consider until we get to the point where we realize that the goal of our true desire is God Himself, although vague, barely glimpsed and unknown. Nonetheless, once we have decided that the Desire for God is the greatest gift (=grace) we are given, then we have to order our lives accordingly.

To find God, to make progress towards God, we always have to adopt a spirit of renunciation. We must reduce our relationship with what belongs to time and space. We have to let go of things so that we can advance towards our goal. All you have to do is study the lives of the saints to see what is meant. Basically, in order to find God, (or again make progress towards God---I prefer this formulation of the problem), we have to let go, or separate ourselves, from what is not-God.

You can experiment with this yourself. Once you let go of something that you sense is getting in your way, a change takes place. Let me give you an example: consider the pursuit of mindless entertainments, which has become such a great thing since the arrival of the Internet. And yet if we can separate ourselves from that, what results is an increase in spiritual sensitivity. We appreciate things more, things that before we were hardly aware even existed.

It is also true that once we have decided that our ultimate goal is God Himself, that ultimate desire will begin to have an influence on the choices that we make.

I hope I haven’t lost you.

God bless you and enliven your faith so that may seek Him at all times and in all circumstances.

My community is in retreat this week. During the retreat we are given 10 conferences by the Retreatmaster Dom Michael Casey, who comes to us from Tarawara Abbey in Australia. He is one of the most revered and respected teachers about the monastic life and has written numerous articles and books about the subject. He is in the USA at this time to give retreats to several monasteries in the area.

My reflections will be brief this week. What I hope to do is present at least one of the ideas from the conferences in each reflection.

Today we spoke of conversion and of the things that happen when one is undergoing a conversion experience. One aspect of the conversion experience is that we begin to see things differently and in a different context than we have seen before.

This conversion is an awakening that enables us to see what we could not previously see.

Here is an example:

One of the monks in a monastery, usually a cheerful, helpful and generous young man, slowly began to change and become more surly and uncooperative and unpleasant. The community began to respond to him in a way that one would usually respond to such a toxic person. Then it was learned that his parent were going through a divorce which was bitter and nasty and contested and the process was taking a long time. Once the community realized this, it became possible for them to change the way they were responding to him, and to become patient and kind to him.

Isn’t it true that if we knew the whole story about someone we would naturally react differently to the person? Well, then, the challenge to us is to realize that we never really know what people are going through, what crosses they might be carrying, what burdens are weighing them down. Most of the time we aren’t given to now the whole story. But perhaps it would be a good thing, and help us to grow in compassion and kindness, to act as if we knew . . . What might happen.

God bless you. Please pray for me and for my community during these days of retreat.

Morning prayer: embraced by love

At Morning Prayer this morning I felt embraced by God’s love, especially when we were singing the Antiphons. (An antiphon is a brief verse, usually from the psalm which follows, which we use to introduce each psalm, and then repeat at the end.) Anyway, here are the antiphons from our morning office which were such a blessing to me. I pray they may also be a source of blessing to you:

·         My God is the rock where I take refuge, my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.

·         Long life to the Lord, my rock. Praised be the God who saves me.

·         I bind myself to do your will. Lord, do not disappoint me.

·         O Lord, I love the house where you dwell, the place where your glory abides.

·         The Lord has robed me with grace and salvation.

·         O King of glory, purify the hearts of those who seek your face.

·         O Loving Kindness of the heart of our God, visit us like the dawn from on high.

Pick one or two of these to carry with you throughout this day.

God bless you!

Mystery, mystery, mystery

Trinity Sunday 2016

If you went to church today, chances are that you noticed that you homilist was struggling a bit with the homily, or else chose to speak about something other than Trinity. Fortunately for us, our homilist, Fr. Steven, gave a clear and well-organized homily, speaking about mainly how difficult it is to preach on Trinity Sunday.

It is difficult to preach about the Trinity. It’s difficult to speak about the Trinity. Sometimes it’s difficult to even think about the Trinity. I remember a story told to me when I was in grade school about St. Thomas Aquinas, the most brilliant theologian of them all, was walking on the beach on day thinking about the Trinity when he came upon a little boy who had dug a hole in the sand and kept filling it with water from the ocean. The Saint told the little boy that it would be impossible for him to fit the entire ocean into that little hole and the boy (who was actually an angel) turned to him and said, “I’ll get this done before you finish figuring out the Trinity.”

And yet, we live the Trinity all the time. Every time we bless ourselves entering or leaving the church or when a pitcher prepares to begin the ball game or when someone goes to take a dive off a high diving board. Parents trace the sign of the cross on their children’s foreheads (I borrowed this image from Fr. Steven). We pray to God the Father. We pray to God the Son, especially when we use the Jesus Prayer in our meditations. We pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and sometimes say that a particular homily or a particular piece of music by the choir was filled with the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons, and each of the three persons has a particular identity for us. And yet they are all one God. And I’m going to let my explanation stop right there.

The doctrine of the Trinity is the central mystery of our Christian faith. We accept it through faith but we don’t fully understand it. And if we were to study it carefully over the course of a lifetime we would never come to the end of understanding it.

That is the meaning of mystery when we speak about it in spiritual terms. Not a puzzle to be solved, but rather a glimpse into the realm of reality that goes beyond thought. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, so far beyond my understanding, the Psalmist exclaims, and we can all say the same thing.

It is good to live a life filled with mystery. It is good for our humility, to be sure, since we tackle something that is so much greater than we are with such a limited understanding. It is also good for our sense of self: our lives in faith are so much greater than a life lived without faith, a life where a person only accepts what can be figured out and neatly packaged into one pigeon-hole of another. It is good for our souls, which are themselves mysterious—as we peek through the clouds of understanding to catch even the briefest glimpse of something more wonderful than everyday life, more precious than anything that can be counted, tasted, see, heard or touched.

This is the way God created us to be. Consider this, also: isn’t it true that the people who are in our lives, including our closest friends and even spouses, are themselves mysteries. We run into great danger when we mistakenly believe that we have them all figured out. We rob them of the greatest part of their existence when we think there is nothing more to discover.

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you this day and draw you closer to himself. Amen.

Thanksgiving at times of deliverance

Thanksgiving and Praise: Psalms 33 and 34

Reflect for a moment on times when you have felt relief and perhaps even victory after a long and difficult struggle. Just the other day I had such an experience. There was a person in my life whom I found it hard to forgive for a great many years. One day recently, during a discussion with friends, a special insight came to me: an awareness of how terribly unhappy that person was and how it was easy to understand why things had turned out the way they did. And behold! It was as if I had been set free from the tyranny of resentment and bitterness. I was able to forgive, and was also able to love that person, and, for the first time in many years, I was able to pray for that person with compassion and even with love. I’d been set free! I hadn’t expected it to happen: it was a gift given to me by the Lord at a time He had chosen. Now the war was over and I was at peace, and my soul became that much lighter.

I turned to Psalm 33, the next one in our series, and found out it was a psalm of joy and praise by a nation which had been set free from warfare. How appropriate. Here are some verses that you can use a little prayers at appropriate times. They all speak of our overriding theme in this series: they speak oh how God cares for us.

They are happy whose God is the Lord,

the people he has chosen as his own.  (v 12)

The Lord looks on those who revere him,

on those who hope in his love,

to rescue their souls from death,

to keep them alive in famine.  (v 18-19)

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

as we place all our hope in you.  (v22)

And now we turn to Psalm 34, which is also a psalm of praise:

I sought the Lord and he answered me;

from all my terrors he set me free.  (v 5)

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

He is happy who seeks refuge in him. (v 9)

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;

those whose spirit is crushed he will save. (v 19)

The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.

Those who hide in him shall not be condemned. (v 23)

·         This verse in particular sends me to the cross, to the locus of our ransoming. We can draw faith from the reassurance given to us that we will not be damned. Think also of the Good Thief and the salvation we won by his simple statement of faith at the very last hour.

God bless you.

Fighting the Passions

Today I thought I would offer you a few quotations from Theophan the Recluse (1815-94), a Russian priest and monk and eventually hermit. I’ve quoted him in the past and I discovered his writings in a book called The Art of Prayer which is an anthology of writings of Russian mystics from the 19^th century.

Today’s selections are about anger and the passions and the use of the Jesus Prayer to help dispel them.

On the face of it, there is nothing at all in the world over which it is worth losing our temper; for what is more valuable than the soul and its peace? This peace is destroyed by anger.

Deep in the heart we cling to our right to judge and punish others for their sins, instead of ourselves. That is all there is to it. If a man saw himself as a sinner, being vividly conscious of all the consequences of sin, anger would be far from him.

We recognize that God permits troubles to come in order to try us and thus demonstrate the strength of our virtue; and this helps us to preserve our temper in such cases, for we believe that God Himself is watching us at such a moment.

. . . examine our thoughts and feelings, so as to discover which way they tend: towards pleasing God or towards pleasing ourselves. It is quite easy to do this. All you have to do is to watch yourself.

Self-gratification is the cause of all evils. If you examine all the bad things that you have done, you will see that in each case they originated from pandering to yourself.

As a general rule, decide whether a thing is permissible by the effect it produces within.  Permit yourself what is constructive, but never what is destructive.

. . . we must direct all our attention to this warfare against the passions—and that is constant remembrance of the Lord and prayer to Him. Acquiring the habit of the Jesus Prayer is the external aspect of this weapon. In its inner reality, it may best be described as ‘being always at home’.

We must stay always in our heart with the Lord, calling to Him; and this banishes everything evil.

There is no need . . . to be disturbed and perplexed when passions rise up from our fallen nature or when they are spurred on by evil spirits. Since passions are tamed by prayer, when they arise we should practice the Jesus Prayer inwardly, very quietly and without haste: little by little this will allay the upsurging passions.

When you talk to someone, above all refrain from upsetting him by aggressiveness, or by expressing an opinion directly opposed to his, from an obvious desire to have your own way. It is the enemy who inspires you to do this, in order to start an argument and by this means to bring about discord. Avoid equally speaking of spiritual things in order to display your own wisdom. This too is a suggestion of the enemy, and if you follow it you will be laughed at by men and will gain God’s displeasure. 

God bless you.

The importance of monastic life

I want to correct something I wrote yesterday. Talking about retirement, I said that I was not doing anything “important and meaningful” in the college. Perhaps not, but I am doing something important and meaningful in the Church and in the world: I am living the monastic life. Some may not see that as important and meaningful, but for those of us who are living the life have a strong sense that we are doing something that the world desperately needs.

We live a life where there is a great deal of silence in a world which is saturated with noise and idle chatter.

We live a life based on vows that the world sees as meaningless and unnecessary: Obedience, stability and conversatio, which means “conversion of life according to a monastic manner of life.” In essence, conversatio assumes the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. In living the monastic life, we place a priority on things which the world sees as unnecessary and unwanted. But in living this life we are giving witness that these things are important, although relatively few people are called to live the vows in their regular lives. But who, I ask, would not benefit from more of these things in their own life?

We pray the psalms every day. Over the course of two weeks, we pray just about every one of the 150 psalms. These psalms express all the emotions, hopes, dreams, and dilemmas of everyone at one point or another in their lives. We pray the psalms, and the entire Liturgy of the Hours, for those who cannot pray. So when, for example, I pray the words help, O Lord, for the waters have risen to my neck, I am praying those words for anyone who is in that situation in life at that particular moment.  

I could say a lot more, but don’t think it’s necessary at this point, other than to day that when all is said and done, the most important thing we can do for anyone is to pray for him/her. I have always felt that the world is being saved by little old ladies sitting in the rocking chairs praying the Rosary day after day. The famous monk Thomas Merton first visited his monastery (Gethsemane) and felt that it was the prayer of the monks who were holding the world together at a time when it was about to implode (WWII).

I’ll conclude with a couple of verses of Psalm 33, which is psalm of thanksgiving for having been delivered from war:

They are happy whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. (v. 12)

Our soul is waiting for the Lord. The Lord is our help and our shield. In him do our hearts find joy. (v. 20-21)

and finally,

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

as we place our hope in you. (v. 22)

God bless you.

So what's new?

I spoke to a friend last night. It’s been quite a while since we’ve been in contact with one another.

“What’s new?” he asked. I stumbled about looking for an answer.

Lately, I’m at a loss for words when I’m asked that question. Maybe it’s because I am retired now, but I wouldn’t want to give the impression that I’m sitting around in my room waiting for Jesus to come and get me, to “relieve my soul from this prison.” (Psalm 142:7). That now that I’m not doing anything BIG and IMPORTANT and MEANINGFUL in the college, I’m just a poor old geezer, with nothing but time to burn, facing one boring day after the other. Of course, none of this is true. My life is rich and I’m at peace and content and relatively stress-free. Thanks be to God.

And do you know what else? The truth is that on the deepest level, everything in my life is new all the time. The Psalms I prayed today were new and spoke to me in new ways. The Gospel passage had a meaning for me that I had not noticed before. I enjoyed the sight of new budding on bushes and trees all around me as I drove downtown for a doctor’s appointment, and the sight was glorious. Due to my reading and my prayer, I’ve gained new insights into a couple of issues and questions that have been on my mind for a while now. I had a lovely conversation with a confrère about some things he’s been reading on the topic of spirituality—and he gave me some names I haven’t been aware of. I’m learning some new music to play before Vespers tonight. As usual, I’ve become more aware of areas of sinfulness in my life---nothing really serious, but definitely something to add meaning to my Jesus Prayer during meditation: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. That prayer, in fact, is new every time I say it, which can be many many times on some days. 

So now I’m wondering if this is all a part of the “newness of life” that Saint Paul speaks about. (Rom 6:4)

And I don’t have to go out looking for new things. They come to me when I am awake, alert and aware. Here’s something that I just became aware of: there is only one letter difference between the words meditation and medication. Hmmmmmmm. 

But when my friend asked me “What’s new?” I had nothing to answer. How could I possibly explain any of the things I listed for you with someone who is not interested in walking a spiritual journey. I remember when my kid brother first drove me to the monastery and spent a night here. The next morning he whispered to me, “This could get to be boring!” Well, I’m waiting. Here 33 years. Haven’t been bored yet, except for some classes I had to take in the seminary, and one or two homilies along the way. But all that was momentary.

Anyway, thanks for attempting to understand what I’m talking about today. And take a look around your own life, and ask “what’s new?” The answers you may give to that question might give you an indication as to where you stand in your own journey. And if you happen to be doing important, exciting, and wonderful things out there, well, good for you. Enjoy it while it lasts. Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt, but it doesn’t fit me any more.

God bless you

The joy of being forgiven

Today we take a prayerful look at Psalm 32, which expresses the joy of being forgiven. This psalm is often called a “repentance psalm” and yet the mood is joyful. The psalmist begins in pain because he had not confessed his sin: I kept it secret and my frame was wasted. I groaned all day long for night and day your hand was heavy upon me. (vv. 3-4). Can you relate to that feeling, when the guilt of unconfessed sins is painful and oppressive.

The sinner repents and acknowledges his sins. The Hebrew verb here has a wide range of meanings: recognizes, becomes aware of, admits to, among others. Haven’t there been occasions in our lives where we have done something that we could not bring ourselves to believe was sinful, but as time passes and we grow in understanding and wisdom, we get to the point where, finally, we are able to acknowledge that we have sinned? Immediately 3 things happen according to this psalm:

acknowledgment --> confession --> forgiveness  (v. 5)

And then at long last, the psalmist is able to recover the happiness and joy that was lost by sinning, and he is able to proclaim the Lord’s goodness:

So let every good man pray to you

in the time of need.

The floods of water may reach high

but him they shall not reach.

You are my hiding place, O Lord;

you save me from distress.

(You surround me with cries of deliverance.) (v. 6-7)

And now it is the Lord who speaks of His care for His beloved children. Read these lines as a promise made explicitly to you:

I will instruct you and teach you

the way you should go;

I will give you counsel

with my eye upon you. (v. 8)

. . .

Many sorrows has the wicked

but he who trusts in the Lord,

loving mercy surrounds him. (v. 10)

A fitting verse for meditation during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

God bless you!

A Pentecost Prayer

Pentecost 2016

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I’m not sure what to write today.

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I don’t know where to go next in this life.

Holy Spirit, guide me, for I don’t know how to let go of this resentment I feel towards someone.

Holy Spirit, guide me, as you have guided me up until now.

Holy Spirit, lead me to the unknown. Last year at this time I had no idea where I would be now. Again I have no idea where I’m going. All I can do is wait, and trust.

Holy Spirit, help me to be patient and trusting, and help me to put all things into your hands.

Holy Spirit, help me to use the gifts I know you have given me, and to be open to discovering gifts you have yet to bestow on me.

Holy Spirit, help me to rejoice when I see others exercising their gifts. Drive far from me all traces of competition and envy.

Holy Spirit, fill me with joy, peace, patience, self-control, kindness, generosity, gentleness and faithfulness.

Holy Spirit, teach me to savor each moment as a gift, even those moments when I don’t feel particularly gifted or those moments which are filled with tribulation and trial.

Holy Spirit, pray within me, and inspire me to pray constantly. Help me pray for everyone who comes into  my mind this day and always.

Holy Spirit, help me to smile more than frown, to praise more than complain, to search out the good rather than find fault, to believe more than to doubt, to sing more than to moan.

Holy Spirit, help me to care for myself so that I can be caring towards others.

Holy Spirit, give me the grace to let harmful thoughts pass through me rather than take root in me.

Holy Spirit, let me know that You have put my sins far from you, “as far as the east is from the west.”

Holy Spirit, aid me to see you in every page of the sacred writings.

Holy Spirit, thank You for all You have done for me over the years, especially for those things I failed to recognize as gifts from You. Amen.

God bless you.

If you love, then DO

Commentary on John 21:15-19, the Gospel for Friday of the 7^th Week of Easter (Year II):

I remember the time when I read this passage and it struck my emotions and I was given the gift of tears. (Well, actually, the damn broke!) To think of it. Peter had denied Jesus, had sinned horribly and in a way which humiliated him, as our sins so often do.

Jesus spoke not a word of reproach. I am reminded of the father’s actions in the parable of the prodigal son, who also spoke no reproach but rather embraced his son and dressed him in fine clothes and proclaimed a feast to celebrate his return.

Not a word of reproach to the miserable sinner. Just this: Do you love me?

I, a poor miserable sinner, stand before the Lord and confess my sins and He replies, Do you love me? And He askes this question knowing full well that yes, I do love Him, even when I go against His wishes and depart from His way and violate His commandments. Even when I do things that hurt others, or am insensitive to others’ needs or neglect to provide something that is needed, something that I easily could have given. Even with all of this, I know that I do indeed love Him. I have failed Him but I love Him.

That must certainly make sense to any parent with wayward children. That is also true when our friends might let us down. They still love us, but their love-capacity was on overload, or even turned off for a time.

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Three times the same question to Peter, and each positive answer from him wipes away his three horrible sins. He got the point clearly and was saddened by the third question because he understood why it was asked three times. He was convicted not by a judge, but by the love of the divine Lover.

Do you love him?

Jesus reply was very simple: Go and do something about it. Realize that every single person in the world is part of Jesus’ flock. Every nationality, every race, every circumstance. Do something for them, however that may be possible in your own personal world. Show your love by what you do.

Even the most simple of gestures. Remember that Jesus taught that if we give so much as a cup of water to someone who needs it, we have gained our reward in heaven. So don’t wait for some fantastic opportunity to make a grand gesture. Look for the simple things. Pray to become more attentive, because if you are like me, there are a thousand little needs that I pass by without even giving them a thought.

Lord, what shall I do?

He will answer this question for you just as he did for Peter. It may be something small and seemingly insignificant. It may be your very life? Just be attentive and all shall be well.

God bless you.

Hold that temper!

As you may know, I’ve been reading a book called The Art of Prayer recently. This morning I found a passage which is so practical and helpful that I’ve decided to offer it to you as today’s meditation. I’ve found it to be helpful in light of that fact that I recently lost my temper. I’m sure you know what that’s like. I wish I had read this passage first:

“Make a following rule: first of all, anticipate trouble at every moment and when it comes encounter it as something expected. Secondly, when something happens that conflicts with your will and is on the point of irritating or upsetting you, hasten to bring your attention into your heart and strive with all your might to prevent such feelings from arising: steel yourself against them and pray. If you succeed in preventing feelings of irritation and disturbance from arising within you, then you are finished with your trouble, for these feelings are its starting point. But if even a small feeling is brought to birth, resolve, if possible, not to do or say anything until you have managed to drive it away. If you find it impossible not to say or do something, try not to talk and act according to those feelings but according to God’s commandment, in the manner that He ordains, meekly and quietly, as though nothing had happened.

“In the third place, put out of your mind all expectation that the nature of things will change, and resign yourself to life-long friction. Do not forget this or underrate its importance, for unless you act in this way patience cannot be firmly established. Finally, with all this, preserve a good-humored expression, an affable tone of speech, friendly behavior, and above all avoid reminding people in any way about their unjust words or deeds. Behave as though they had done nothing wrong. Accustom yourself to preserve the remembrance of God unceasingly.”  

Theophan the Recluse.  The Art of Prayer, pp. 228-229.

Peace DURING the storm

Our Psalm study continues today with Psalm 30 which begins with a theme common to so many of the psalms where the composer is in distress:

In you, O Lord, I take refuge.

Let me never be put to shame.

It is assumed that Jesus prayed this Psalm while He was hanging on the cross, and the psalm expresses confidence that God is with Him to deliver Him, just as he is with us to deliver us. Let us keep in mind, however, that Jesus’ journey of pain would take Him so far into terror and darkness that for a time He would lose that confidence and cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” (Psalm 22) That is how much He suffered for us.

Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Then this cry of the Lord is yours as well.

Let’s turn back to psalm 30. The Psalmist is under attack from enemies who laid traps for him and who aroused the crowds to slander him and plot against him. Here, once again, we can sense the suffering of Jesus and the prayers He was uttering:

I have heard the slander of the crowd,

fear is all around me,

as they plot together against me,

as they plan to take my life. (v. 14)

Despite what is happening to Him, He continually voices His trust in God, and these are verses which we can call to mind whenever we feel threatened. Here are some of the “confidence verses.”

You are my rock, my stronghold.

For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. (v.4)

It is you who will redeem me, Lord (v.6)

Let your face shine on your servant.

Save me in your love. (v.17)

And here is one of my favorites; in fact, I wrote music for it when I was a novice in the monastery:

Blessed is the Lord who has shown me

the wonders of his love

in a fortified city. (v.22)

·         What might the “fortified city” represent for you? Could it be the place where you go to when you pray?

May these verses help you in your own struggles and difficulties, now and always.

God bless you.

Peace after the storm

Psalm study, continued. Psalm 28 is the prayer of someone who is in a dangerous life-threatening situation, and who knows that without God’s help he is doomed. God answers his prayer and the psalm shifts to a prayer of thanksgiving.

Blessed by the Lord for he has heard

my cry, my appeal. (v. 6)

·         I can think of several times lately where this prayer would be appropriate for me. How about you? Just the other day I prayed that the Lord help me get free of a certain distraction, and almost immediately the distraction dissolved and I was free to praise the Lord. This is a good verse to memorize so that we can recite it easily wherever and whenever our prayers (big and small) are answered.

The psalm follows with a wonderful statement of faith and joy.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts.

I was helped, my heart rejoices and I praise him with my song. (v.7)

·         What is your song of praise? I remember a little song I used to teach children’s choirs, and to this day it plays in my mind as I brush my teeth in the morning. I often wonder if any of the children I taught remember it and pray it as often as I do:

§  Thank you, Lord, for giving me life,

Thank you, Lord, for family and friends.

Thank you, Lord, for walking with me

Through the years till my journey ends.

Psalm 29 depicts the power of God in a great storm. The imagery is poetic and if you read it you can actually hear and sense the storm arising and passing by until things quiet down and The Lord sat enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits as king for ever. (v.10) And then, one beautiful statement of what our caring God comes to bestow on us:

The Lord will give strength to his people,

the Lord will bless his people with peace. (v.11)

·         I used to wonder why that verse was chosen to end a psalm which is essentially about a storm, but then I thought of all the storms that we pass through in our lives and how with God’s help the tumult eventually turns to a time of peace. And now I pray it for all the persecuted and uprooted people in our world these days: The Lord will bless his people with peace. Bring it on, Lord, bring it on!

God bless you and bring you his peace.

He has overcome the world!

I’ve been offering reflections on Ephesians 1. Here is the complete text again. I highlighted the part I wish to consider today:

[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead . . . (Eph 1:17-20) 

And from today’s Gospel (Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter):

                In the world you will have trouble, but take courage. I have conquered the world. (John 16:33)

Notice how all of this flows from the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the power Paul refers to in Ephesians. That is also what made it possible for Jesus to say “I have overcome the world.”

That is the power we can draw upon whenever we have to lift ourselves up from episodes of sin and failure. That is the power we can draw upon when we suddenly become aware of a weakness of character that we had never noticed before—for example, when we suddenly understand just how selfish we can be at times—or controlling, or prideful, or cynical or contemptuous or . . .

This reassurance that Jesus gives his disciples--that He has overcome the world--will not do them any good at the moment when the world seemingly gets the better of Him, when He is crushed by the force of evil in the world, when it seems as if all the good work He had done on earth was for nothing.

No, it won’t do them any good at all, until He is risen from the dead and shows Himself to them. And, of course, the absolute demonstration of this power will be on the day of Pentecost when they will receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the day we are praying for and which we will celebrate this coming Sunday.

How about those moments and times when we experience near annihilation by the force of evil in the world or in our lives? What must it be like to be a homeless person or a refugee without a country? What can help us when we are crushed by the knowledge of just how much craziness there is in the world these days, or how many innocent people are suffering because of the hatred or greed of others?

What can help us? Perhaps the revelation we have received about the intensity and unlimited scope of God’s power, God Who raises from the dead. Perhaps the revelation that in the course of time, all will be set right. Consider, for example, the Song of Mary that the Church sings every night at Vespers, the Magnificat which speaks of the total reversal of the misery in the world:

He has shown the strength of his arm.

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel (substitute your own name)

for He has remembered his promise of mercy . . .

Sometimes when I chant this canticle, it seems to me as if Mary is singing it from heaven at the end of time and describing what will have already happened in our world.

Take courage today. Remember who you are and what has been done for you. Hope in what will be done for you. And at all times, times filled with joy or times filled with disillusionment and emptiness,

be at peace.

God bless you.

Christ prays for us!

The Seventh Sunday of Easter (year C)

I wrote a song which we sang at Mass this morning. The text combines some of the second reading (I am the Alpha and the Omega) with lines from the last section of John 17, the section in which Jesus prays for us.

Whenever I read John 17 (which I encourage you to read today), I want to cry out with the Psalmist: Too wonderful for me this knowledge, too high, beyond my reach! To think of it! Before Jesus was taken away to be crucified, He prayed to His Father. He prayed for us. He prayed that we would be with Him, that we would see the glory He had from the Father before the foundation of the world! Considering the power of that prayer, what could possibly get to us that would be more precious or more filled with hope?

And by the way, this is the next section of Ephesians 1:17 that I’ve been commenting on the past few days. Paul prays that God grant us a spirit of wisdom and understanding that we might see (grasp) what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. John 17 does a good job explaining what some of those riches may be.

Anyway, to get to the song. For what it’s worth, I’m giving you the text below. By next weekend I will have an mp3 (sound file) of the music, because I am having it recorded this week. For today, however, I think the text will provide you with adequate food for reflection. You’ll find it all included in the last part of John 17.

I am the Alpha and Omega.

I am the first and the last,

the beginning and the end.

I am loved by my Father.

He has given me glory

before the foundation of the world.

I pray for you, my faithful beloved,

to be with me and to see my glory.

before the beginning of the world.

The Father’s love for me

will be in you,

you and me, as one.

God bless you.

Getting through the turmoil in our lives

We continue our meditation on Ephesians 1:17-20. Please refer back to yesterday’s reflection for the introduction. Here is the passage we are working with. I have highlighted the section for today’s reflection:

[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead . . . (Eph 1:17-20)  *Note: this is an older translation than what we currently use at Mass, but this is the one I read that day—RSV translation.)

One of the meanings of the verb know in Greek is “to realize,” and I read today’s phrase in that sense, and interpret the verse in very simple terms.

I believe that God has a plan for each of us, and has plotted out the way we should walk. The question may arise concerning free will, and what happens to God’s plan when we don’t walk the way He has indicated for us. This leads to a complex discussion which I am not going to consider today, but rather look at things as I said in a simple manner. In fact, I can even reduce it to a set of propositions as follows:

·         God has a plan for each of us, a path which our life will follow.

·         Sometimes we think we know that path.

·         Sometimes the circumstances of our life alter that path and throw us into a state of confusion.

·         The state of confusion is part of the plan for us. We have to go through it as part of our life’s journey.

·         And so our life has its ups and downs, its clarity and its turmoil, its victories and its tragedies.

·         Again, all part of the plan. And there are times and moments in our lives when we are completely blind-sided and cannot make sense out of what is happening. Again, part of the plan.

·         God helps us to make sense out of what is happening gradually, never all at once.

·         The Spirit that Paul prays we receive is a Spirit of enlightening.

·         We receive that Spirit at times when our understanding is darkened; the Spirit enlightens us.

·         As a result of the Spirit’s working in us, we eventually come to realize the great hope which is our destiny.

·         We are given the wisdom to grasp what is the end of our journey: eternal life with God; resurrection of the soul and body.

·         Knowing, or realizing that end can help us better endure the times when we are lost and fearful, confused and discouraged.

·         Part of what we come to realize is that the present difficulties are not permanent; this too shall pass.

·         The great hope will never let us down if we live in God’s Spirit. Once again, I am hearing an echo from the Rule of Saint Benedict: Never lose hope in God’s mercy.  (RB 4:72)

Please keep in your prayers a friend who is currently going through a period of turmoil in his own life. Thank you.

God bless you.