A gift freely given, not earned

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Tuesday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time

From the first reading:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given by God.

This is a difficult passage to unpack, and in order to grasp even a bit of it, I have had to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my reflection today. So, in a sense, I am “thinking aloud” as I write to you this day. As always, I advise you to take to heart anything which you find meaningful, and just leave the rest behind.

There is one reality which is so wonderful and so exalted that we have trouble fully accepting it, and it is this: That we have already been given God’s Spirit. It is within us, and it is by means of this Spirit that we are able to contemplate matters which worldly people cannot understand and probably regard as inexplicable nonsense.

This does not make us any better than those who have not yet been given the gift of faith; to put it in worldly terms we are just more fortunate, we are lucky. We have done nothing to earn this tremendous gift of God; we are not worthier than others, because worthiness has nothing to do with it. It is, and we have trouble grasping this, it is a free gift, and we often have trouble comprehending just what that means. We do not lose the gift because of our sinfulness or laziness or lack of focus, or anything of that sort. It is always there, and all it takes is our attention to be in touch with it.

That is why it is so very important for us to discipline our minds through  meditation, so that we might clear out all of the noise and all of the distractions so that we can gain better access to that gift which is within us. I mentioned above that I had to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my reflection, but the truth of the matter is that the Holy Spirit always guides me, even when I forget to pray or when I am unconscious and distracted.

What does this Spirit tell us? Well, you have to answer that question for yourself. The Spirit knows all things, even the mind of God, because the Spirit is God. So when have you found yourself inspired with thoughts or actions which are beyond your usual capabilities or your power of thought? When have you suddenly grasped just how much God loves you in a way you haven’t grasped before? When have you been walking along and were suddenly grasped by the incredible beauty of what you see before you? When have you suddenly drawn upon a greater measure of peace, or love, or joy than you usually experience in your humdrum day-to-day existence? When have you had the impulse to put everything down and just be without having to earn or prove or do anything at all, even in the midst of a noisy environment? When have you suddenly connected with another person on a level far deeper than what you find in your regular acquaintances? When have you had the sense that your life is more filled with meaning than you ever give it credit for?

These, I believe, are all signs that the Spirit is working within us. These are signs that God’s love for us is so much greater than we think we deserve.

Think on these things, and may the Spirit of God that is within you speak to your heart, mind and soul this day. God bless you!

Though everything seems to be falling apart . . .

Monday, August 29, 2016

Psalm study today: Psalm 46

This psalm gives confidence to those who need it:

God is for us a refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in time of distress:

The first line of the psalm is a summary of a great part of the psalter. The word refuge appears about 40 times in the psalms; the word strength 57. This is a message which is continually driven home, particularly to those who are going through those trying phases of life which we all have.

The message is clear and I would express it this way: hide in God. I think of one of my favorite psalm verse which we frequently use during Morning Prayer: Hide me in the shadow of your wings till the storms of destruction pass by. When I pray this, I picture myself residing within the embrace of almighty God, being hugged, as it were. I remember one day in particular: it was during the summer and there was a lot of construction going on on campus. Outside our church windows, heavy equipment was making a terrible racket, so much so that we could hardly hear our own voices. We prayed that text and it became vivid for me. The sound of the bulldozers represented all the forces and tumult of a world under distress and attack, while we were safe and snug in our choir stalls. We were aware of what was raging outside, but it couldn’t get to us.

The psalm continues by reminding us that God is an ever-present help. Sometimes it is so easy to forget that He is with us, especially when we may be frightened or overwhelmed, or when it seems like our world is crashing down around our heads. The psalm expresses this tumult poetically:

though the earth should rock

though the mountains quake to the heart of the sea

though the waters rage and foam

though the mountains be shaken by its tumult

Can you relate to that? Have there been times when the rug has been pulled from under you and you didn’t know where to turn? Have there been times when you doubted you could survive? Times like this come in every life, and we have so many examples of this happening throughout the world these days.

Hold this psalm close to your heart. And if, by chance, you seek a time of quiet meditation, simply repeat to yourself the command given near the end of the psalm:

Be still and know that I am God

And may that God be with you and bless you, now and forever. Amen.

A new look at charity

Friday-Saturday, August 26-27

At Mass today we heard the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). As usual, this parable turns reality on its head and causes us to think in different ways than we’re normally used to.

The story is this: There are ten wise and ten foolish virgins who are awaiting the bridegroom. The wait, apparently, might take them through the night, so the wise ones, being well prepared, brought extra oil for their lamps; the foolish ones didn’t think to make any preparations and just brought their lamps with whatever oil they had in them. Finally, at midnight, someone announced the groom’s arriving. The foolish virgins needed more oil for their lamps and so asked the wise ones to share what they had.

Now at this point, one might think that it would be proper Christian charity for the wise ones to share their oil with the foolish ones. That is the expected result. But the wise ones refuse to share because if they did they wouldn’t have enough for their own lamps. “How selfish!” one might think.

But Jesus surprises his listeners and calls the “selfish” ones wise for not sharing. They tell the other ones to go out and buy more oil from the merchants. (I find this detail puzzling, because I wonder where they would find an oil-shop open at that time of night.) Anyway, the foolish ones miss the bridegroom’s arrival and once the door is shut he refuses to let them in.

So what do you make of this?

Jesus uses this example as a call for us to “Stay awake!” because we don’t know the hour of His visitation. But I would like to suggest that there are even more lessons to be learned from the parable. Yes, wisdom requires us to be prepared at all times, and I would suggest that it means we should always be open to a visitation from the Lord, when we least expect it, and that visitation might be in forms and ways that we couldn’t predict.

Another possible lesson is—and I dare to say this--that there might be a limit to charity. Sometimes we have to take care of ourselves, especially in matters regarding our spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord. I like to think of the safety instructions people are given at the beginning of a flight: if the oxygen masks drop down, it is essential that we put our own on first, and this message goes especially to parents of small children, whose impulse would be to reach out to the children first. Put your own mask on first and then you will be able to help others. That is the wise way of behaving.

What do you think wisdom is requiring you to do, or how might it be inspiring you to think. My explanation might not be useful to you today; what matters is the sense you make of the whole matter, and what ways the parable might inspire you to think differently. That is the  main point.

God bless you!

Expressions of suffering and hope

Thursday, August 25

Psalm study today. We are up to Psalm 41, but I’m going to take Psalms 41-44 as a group because each of these psalms are prayed by a person who is in dire straits, who has been attacked by enemies, who has been falsely accused, and who has come almost to the point of despair, thinking that God has abandoned him.

All my foes whisper together against me;

they devise evil plots against me. (41:8)

. . . even my friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me (41:10)

·         Could it be Christ who is praying these words, as Judas leaves the table of the Last Supper to go and betray him? Find Jesus in these psalms if you read them; Find people all over the world who could well be praying these verses; and certainly, find yourself either in the present or in some situations which you have had to endure in the past—and survived (don’t forget that!)

My tears have become my bread,

by day, by night,

as they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?” (42:4)

I will say to God, my rock,

‘Why have you forgotten me’ (42:10a)

·         Did not Jesus utter these words before his death on the cross?

Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause

against a nation that is faithless.

From the deceitful and the cunning

rescue me, O God. (43:1)

Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?

Arise! Do not reject us forever.

Why do you hide your face,

and forget our oppression and misery (44:24-25)

·         Can you hear in these words the cries of the refugees living without hope in so many places in the world today?

·         Psalm 44 actually begins by recalling all the wonderful things God has done for them in the past, and then goes on to lament the face that in their present difficulties, He seems to be absent.

And finally, in all of these psalms there are expressions of hope and remembrances of the goodness and kindness of God shown towards them in good times. The very last verses of Psalm 44 are an outcry to God to come back and care for the defeated nation once again. Let them be our cry of hope also:

Stand up and come to our help!

Redeem us with your merciful love!

And may the God of mercy and love visit you today and bless you in the midst of whatever difficulties you may be enduring!

The "picture=showers"

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Tuesday of the 21^st week in ordinary time: Matthew 23:23-26) Jesus takes the scribes and Pharisees to task and calls them “hypocrites.” I happen to know a bit of Hungarian, and the word for hyprocrite in Hungarian is képmutató which literally means “picture shower,” or someone who shows an image that isn’t really the true one.

I think we all do that at times, sometimes unconsciously and sometimes perhaps out of necessity, as to when we have to hide our true feelings in order to protect ourselves from someone else.

Jesus lays the charge on the Pharisees and scribes because their “false-picture showing” has taken on  a professional dimension and a religious dimension. They are so saturated in their false posturing that they can’t even recognize the fact that they are living a lie. Read the Gospel passage and see what I mean. They manufacture laws and rules to suit their own purposes, and then lay them on everyone else’s backs.

Jesus makes it quite clear that the most important aspects of the Law are the ones they shamelessly neglect, and this is something that we all have to pay close attention to: the most important aspects of the Law are those which deal with judgment and mercy and fidelity. Everything else should flow from these things. Pope Francis has been trying to teach us that ever since he became Pope, and there are some in the Church including high-ranking church leaders who resist what he is saying or, like the Pharisees, have become so immersed in their own agendas that they fail to grasp the fact that he is challenging them to clean up their acts, just as Jesus challenges the Pharisees in his own time.

Yes, Phariseeism has been rampant in religion ever since the time of Jesus and is still an issue today.

Might we sometimes play the Pharisee ourselves? I think that we can and do. Let us heed Jesus’ demand that we “cleanse the inside of the cup so that the outside also may be clean.” And remember that the command is to cleanse our own cups, not everyone else’s. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

God bless you.

Suffering's ultimate destiny

Monday, August 21, 2016

From the first reading for the Mass for Monday of the 21^st Week in Ordinary Time:

“We ourselves boast of you in the churches of God regarding your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions you endure.” (2 Thes 1:4)

I don’t need to know you personally to know that you have had to endure “persecutions and afflictions” in your life. Big one’s perhaps, or even things that may seem trivial to other but which have irked and disturbed you: the neighbor’s dog eats your flowers, the monk next to me in choir sings off-key, the fact that your boss doesn’t appreciate the quality of your work, the people who make wrong assumptions about you, the teenager who constantly gives you lip or wrong attitude, your psoriasis or eating disorder or . . . . . and the list goes on, seemingly infinitely.

Take a moment in prayer now if you can, and bundle all of those things up into one package: all you afflictions and difficulties. And once you have done that, lay that bundle at the foot of the crucifix and again, if you can, take time to gaze on the crucifix and see what it has to teach you about your bundle. You don’t need any special knowledge or theological sophistication: these things have never been a requirement to learn from the crucifix.

Just gaze upon it and be conscious of your breathing for as brief or long a time as you have available. What does it tell you? Think about that for a while before scrolling down to the rest of this reflection.

The message of the crucifix is that your God can identify with your suffering not merely because He is the all-knowing God, but because through Jesus Christ he has participated in the reality of human suffering and pain and even death. And having participated in all these things, he took them to himself and transformed them through the reality of His resurrection.

One of the many messages we can take from this reality is this, and it takes faith to accept it because it is so counter-cultural: All suffering ends in resurrection.

I might not be telling you something you don’t already know, but perhaps I am putting a finger on a reality that is easy to overlook in the storms and darkness of our lives.

Think back: All suffering ends in resurrection.

Perhaps this has already happened in your life many times over, and most likely, you are still undergoing a form of suffering that has not yet reached its ultimate goal. But it will. Again, gaze upon the crucifix and let it teach you, perhaps without words, since the reality is so much greater than we can adequately put into words.

God bless you!

What makes it hard for us to forgive?

Saturday-Sunday, August 20-21, 2016

Fr. Richard Rohr teaches that in order to forgive, things that make up our ego have to die: “my need to be right, to be in control, to be superior.” (Things Hidden, 2008. p. 193)

And there are some times when we find it hard to forgive. What Rohr does here is to provide a checklist. The needs he exposes here are part of all of us. I would suggest that you take those three items and examine each one closely for the purposes of an examination of conscience, but when you do so, make sure you are examining yourself under the umbrella of God’s unfathomable mercy. He knows these things are in us and that does not in any impact the infinite quality of his love towards us.

Think of it in terms of the relationship between a parent and child---an image which I allude to again and again. As a parent, you are well aware of particular aspects of a child’s personality that may be vexing or may be causing concern, and also which may simply be sorts of aggravation. However, in healthy situations, none of this in any way detracts from a parent’s love of the child. (Assuming, once again, that the parent is mature and healthy enough in able to show unconditional love, which unfortunately, many parents are incapable of doing. But for the purposes of this analogy we are considering the best of all possible situations.

And so, for the examen:

My need to be right

• ·         Argumentativeness
• ·         Stubbornness
• ·         Denial of the obvious
• ·         add to the list yourself

My need to be in control

• ·         Manipulativeness
• ·         Shortsightedness, or even blindsightedness
• ·         Selfishness
• ·         add your own

My need to be superior

• ·         Pride
• ·         Inconsiderateness
• ·         Inability to celebrate the gifts of another
• ·         Thinking that the world revolves around me
• ·         Self-centeredness
• ·         Disdain for others
• ·         Bigotry, prejudice
• 
  

Once we have acknowledged these things, could it be possible that they are at the root of those people or situations that we find it hard to forgive? If so, admit them to God and to yourself, and it also helps if you admit these things to another human being either in confession or in private conversation.

Then, having invoked Gods’ endless mercy and his overwhelming grace, wait in patience for the situation to resolve itself. You probably need to do nothing other than eventually speak words of forgiveness to someone you had previously found it so hard to forgive.

Tough work, but well worth the effort.

God bless you! Have a wonderful weekend!

He stoops down to us

Friday, August 19, 2016

Psalm study: Today we’ll look at the first few lines from Psalm 40. As usual the prism through which we are looking at the psalm is “how God cares for us.” Please note that there are many other ways to study and contemplate the psalms, but for the sake of this blog, I have chosen to go through the psalter with this one central question in mind.

The Psalm immediately begins with an affirmation of God’s caring love, and this will suffice for our commentary today:

I waited, I waited for the Lord

and he stooped down to me;

he heard my cry.

He drew me from the deadly pit,

from the miry clay.

He set my feet upon a rock,

made my footsteps firm.

He put a new song into my mouth,

praise of our God.  (vv 2-4a)

We cry; God hears. When God hears, God acts. Sometimes he acts quickly, sometimes it takes a lifetime. We cannot predict or control the way He chooses to act, or the means through which He will express His response to our cry. And so we need to wait. Patiently---and that is difficult for us to do, isn’t it?

The psalm recalls the Lord’s action in response to our cry: “He stooped down to me.” What an incredibly human image: God is on high, and we are here below. It is God’s initiative to reach down to us. I love this image of God stooping; it recalls the sight of a parent stooping down in order to speak to a child on its own level. In addition to that, I often think of this image in terms of the Eucharist, when at each and every Mass throughout history, the Lord comes down, so to speak, to the altar and become present to us not as a ghost or spectre, but rather as concrete tangible reality: as stuff that is man-made but becoming God Himself for us to handle, consume, eat and drink and take into ourselves.

How does God respond to our great need in this psalm: He draws us out of what is ensnaring us, and the snares are extreme and deadly, and apparently it is easy for our feet to get stuck in the muck and mire of our daily lives. But He draws us free from all that. I picture myself shaking the muck from my feet as He helps me to ascend from what threatened to devour me like quicksand.

What is the muck and mire? Take a look at your life and see what it is that is holding you bound, or even what threatens to destroy you. From what do you need to be rescued? This descent into the mire, and then the ascension from the mire is an archetypal pattern; it is the pattern of the Paschal Mystery itself: he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again (The Apostles’ Creed). We live the pattern of the Paschal Mystery again and again in our lives, and as often as we descend, God stoops to us so that we might rise with Him, this time to a place of stability and security: our feet on a rock, our footsteps firm.

Do you currently feel yourself stuck and crying out for help? Then let these verses be a promise to you, and pray for the virtues of patience and hope that can sustain you during your time of waiting.

Have you in your life experienced these times, or even moments of stability and security?  If so, give thanks for them and let Him put a new song into your mouth: the song of the Psalm, perhaps, as you sing His praises for the powerful and intensely real way that he has saved you. Give thanks always.

God bless you and stoop down to you with His saving love.

God's love to those lost in sin

Thursday, April 18, 2016

Thursday of the 20^th Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord says to his sinful people of Israel who have fallen away from His covenant with them, not words of condemnation, but rather

I will sprinkle clean water up on you to cleanse you from all your impurities,

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,

taking from your bodies your stony hearts

and giving you natural hearts.

I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,

careful to observe my decrees.

Note first of all that God’s action upon His people (and that includes you and me) is a free gift that is totally undeserved to a sinful people. How great is God’s love! How overwhelming His grace. It is always His action and not ours that brings us into right relationship with Him.

So many Christians don’t see this because they do not read the Scriptures with eyes open to the mystical beauty of God’s love, but rather focus on condemnation and punishment. But God’s action breaks through impurities and idols----and we have many of those if we take a very honest look at what we are usually most concerned and most preoccupied about. God’s action goes right to the heart of things, as He says in this passage. And it is in the heart that His work is done, if only we open our arms, our hearts, our minds and our spirits to his free, gratuitous and extraordinarily generous loving action.

As for the last two lines of the passage, I would explain it this way, as does Richard Rohr in his book which I keep recommending (Things Hidden: scripture as spirituality): When we accept the gift that God is offering to us, and once again remember that this gift is not something that we have earned, merited or deserved, and this gift comes to us in the midst of our sinfulness, well then, once we have opened our hearts to receive this gift, then right and moral conduct naturally results, even if it takes a lifetime.

Consider these things, will you, and give thanks.

May God continue to bless you with his overwhelming grace!

God's Amazing Grace

Tuesday-Wednesday, August 16-17, 2016

We’ve been reflecting on the wondrous mystery of God’s grace. (I remember when I was in the seminary, we had a professor who always used to call it, “God’s Amazing Grace,” and whenever he did, a group of characters in the back of the room (I was one of them) would start humming the hymntune “Amazing Grace.” It helped lighten up what most of the time tended to be a very boring class.)

Anyway, where was I. Yes. God’s grace---this overwhelming gift of God that is unmerited, unearned, the grace that you cannot and do not have to do anything to get for yourself, the grace of God which brings with it ultimate forgiveness, and often takes those with the greatest faults and sins in their history to do great and wonderful things in the Kingdom of God.

Think, for example, of Moses, who murdered an Egyptian; Peter, who denied the Lord three times; David who committed adultery and then conspired to have the woman’s husband put to death to cover the fact that he had gotten her pregnant---and that was only one of his great faults throughout his lifetime. Think of Paul, who had set about imprisoning and murdering Christians in his Pharasaical zeal; Think of the one known as the “good thief”---who was a violent insurrectionist, who was welcomed into heaven simply because he asked Jesus to “remember me.”

Think of the power of grace in their lives. Think of the mercy and forbearance of the Lord. Think of the fact that these great sinners are the ones who become the principal players in salvation history.

And then think of yourself. Are you sometimes tempted to think that your failings or your weaknesses might separate you from God’s grace? Are you sometimes tempted to think that because of what you had done in your life, God would never use you to do any good at all?

Open your arms wide and accept the free gift which is more powerful than any other force in your life, no matter how lost you may be, no matter how guilty you may be, no matter how low your self-esteem or your ability to  make you way easily through life.

It is a completely free gift, and it is yours. Take it for yourself, and don’t bother yourself to think of the consequences. Leave that to God, and, once again, to God’s grace.

You are God’s work of art.

God bless you!

You are God's work of art

Monday, August 15, 2016

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On this feast day, it is appropriate to reflect on the wonderful mystery of God’s grace. Grace is a total gift given to us out of love. It is a sharing in God’s overpowering and gratuitous love. It doesn’t need to be earned; it doesn’t need to be merited; there isn’t anything we can or should do in order to obtain it. It just is and it is a part of us from the very beginning. Consider this: it was by God’s grace that we were born. Consider that and realize that at the time you were totally helpless and unable to do anything. The grace did what it needed to do for you. And now, if you can, apply that concept to every aspect of your life: Consider how much His grace has done, is doing, and wants to do for you.

Consider this passage from Ephesians (2:8-10)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

There are several translations of the last phrase of this passage which really strike close to home. I give ti you here and suggest that you reflect on it until it is inscribed in your heart and your mind. It is already inscribed in your soul, but most of the time we have blockages which prevent us from having access to it. But here it is now:

You are God’s work of art.

Yes, even you, even now with all your infirmities and weaknesses and memories of sin and temptations to sin, with all of your guilt and shame and regrets and secrets. You are still God’s work of art, and His grace and His love transcends anything within you that mars that art.

Rest in this, today, and reflect on how the Virgin’s very life demonstrated that art right from the beginning and until her earthly time was over and there was nothing to prevent that work of art to take its rightful place in heaven.

Reflect that this you destiny as well. And, knowing that you are God’s work of art, what might you be inspired to do----not to deserve or become more worthy of that grace, but rather to express that grace into your own world.

These would be good things to reflect on today.

God bless you!

Prayer for peace

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Bishop Peter Lebasci, Bishop of the Dioceses of Manchester, New Hampshire, asked that a special Mass be celebrated today, a “Mass in time of war and civil disturbance.” I found a wonderful hymn text that we used as the opening hymn and the offertory for today’s Mass. I give you the text here below for your meditation. Verses 1, 2 and 4 are by Fred Kaan. Verse 3 is by yours truly. We sang the hymn to the tune of “Let all mortal flesh keep silence”

For the healing of the nations,

Lord, we pray with one accord;

for a just and equal sharing

of the things that earth affords;

to a life of love and action

Help us rise and plege our word.

Lead us, Father, into freedom

From despair your world release;

That redeemed from war and hatred,

Men may come and go in peace.

Show us how through care and goodness

Fear will die and hope will cease.

Lord, as we receive your Body

And your Blood, let us be led

To the way that leads to freedom

And forgiveness, as you have said:

“Blessed are the ones who try to make peace,”

With that food of peace may we be fed.

You, Creator God, have written

Your great name on all mankind;

For our growing in your likeness

Bring the life of Christ to mind:

That by our response and service

Earth its destiny may find.

God bless you!

MERCY in a Bach Cantata

This morning I was listening and meditating on Bach’s Cantata # 113 (English title: Lord Jesus Christ, O highest good). In some ways it is a replay of Psalm 38 which we discussed on Tuesday, but with an even stronger and more positive ending. A cantata is a work which usually begins with a Chorale (Hymn) and then goes on through many different parts (arias, recitatives, combinations of voices and soli) before coming to its conclusion.

What we’re interested in here is the text: it begins with lamentations that echo Psalm 38 for me:

Lord Jesus Christ, O highest good,

O fountain of all grace,

behold how in my emotions

I am weighed down with sorrows

and have many arrows in me,

that in my conscience endlessly

pierce me, a poor sinner.

Have mercy on me burdened so,

take them  out of my heart,

since you have atoned for them

on the wood with deathly agonies,

so that, for great woe,

I might not perish in my sins,

nor eternally despair.

Tough stuff, isn’t it? I particularly like the way he turns to the cross to remind himself that all is not lost, and that Jesus Christ has indeed saved him from despair. (As we should also).

The consoling sections are equally powerful:

Jesus takes sinners to Himself!

Sweet word of comfort and life!

He grants true rest to the soul

and calls comfortingly to each:

your sin is forgiven.

The Savior takes sinners to Himself:

how sweetly this word rings in my ears!

He calls: come here to  Me,

you who are weary and burdened,

come here to the fount of all grace.

I have chosen you to be My friends!

At this word I will approach You

like the repentant tax-collector,

and with humbled spirit pray “God, be merciful to me!”

Ah, comfort my foolish will

and make me, through Your spilled blood,

pure of all sin,

then, like David and Manassas,

when I embrace you

constantly in love and loyalty

with the arm of my faith,

I shall be henceforth a child of heaven.

Translation © Pamela Delial

http://www.emmanuelmusic.ord/notes_trans/transl_cantata_print/bwv113.htm

A good meditation for this Year of Mercy. It is a shame that these cantata texts are not better known, because they speak to the deepest core of the human heart, very much like the psalms.

God bless you!

Watch out for "the accuser"

I’m coming back to Richard Rohr today, because he describes something which is at the root of all the violence, hatred, bigotry, all the “religious wars” and the toxic politics both in the USA these days and elsewhere. I feel it is a particularly appropriate commentary at this time here in the United States. Here is what he has to say:

I’ve met many holy people around the world, but I’ve also encountered people that I’d have to describe as evil. If I would try to describe the evil people and evil events that I’ve encountered, they’re invariably characterized by a sense of certainty and clarity. They suffer no self-doubt or self-criticism, smirking at people who would dare to question them. They own no shadow from their side, which is always a sign that their evil has been projected elsewhere. Often they are overtly religious. Remember, the very word satan means ‘the accuser.’ Be careful when you see yourself accusing or as Jesus says, ‘throwing stones’ (John 8:8). It is the satanic disguise, a marvelous diversionary tactic.  (Richard Rohr, “Thing hidden: scripture as spirituality, pp. 135-136.

It will be very easy to choose to point to whom Rohr is describing in this passage, and in some cases you—or we—may be correct. Nonetheless, if we are to maintain a mature spirituality (that phrase is Rohr’s and I’ve decided to adopt it), we must look to ourselves to see if we harbor any of these tendencies, and then ask the Lord to help uproot them from our own souls and from our own lives.

I also can’t help thinking of a verse from Revelation (12:10) “the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” A good verse to remember, especially during this Year of Mercy.

God bless you!

The groans of a guilty heart

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Psalm study today. As I mentioned yesterday, when I reflect on the psalms with you I concentrate on those psalms and verses which have been an important part of my prayer in the monastery, as we make our way through the entire psalter regularly. Since the psalms reflect the whole gamut of human emotions and moods, it stands to reason that on any given day there might be a psalm which does not speak to me in my own current situation.

What do I do in such a case? Well, I remember that I am here to pray for those who, for one reason or another, are unable to pray for themselves or are unable to be aware of their own states of minds and emotions. In such cases, I pray for them. Keep in mind, as I have mentioned before, that fully 1/3 of the psalms in the Bible express misery and pain rather than praise and jubilation.

A good case is today’s psalm, Psalm 38. It is known as a “psalm of repentence” and expresses the pain of one who knows he has seriously sinned and is wracked with guilt and remorse. Remember that this is a Psalm of David, and if you know his history, you can put your finger on times when he was convicted of serious sin and who bowed down in repentance. And if you ever find yourself in that situation, then you would do well to turn to Psalm 38 and let it give voice to the inner turmoil in your heart. In most cases, as in mine, it will do so more eloquently than we can usually do for ourselves.

Just a sampling of the pain the Psalm expresses:

·         My guilt towers higher than my head; it is a weight too heavy to bear.

·         My wounds are foul and festering, the result of my own folly.

·         I cry aloud in anguish of heart.

Think of that: sin as folly. This psalm makes a connection between inner guilt and its outer manifestation in the sinner’s body---something that medical science is beginning to acknowledge as the result of modern research.

·         all my frame burns with fever; all  my body is sick.

·         I am bowed and brought to my knees

·         My heart throbs, my strength is spent.

And as I have said, there are times we pray this psalm when I am not experiencing what it expresses---nonetheless, I can always recall when I have been bowed down in such a way. And one of the things I do with this psalm is to pray it for those who are deeply bound in sin and in sinful situations, but are not aware of it.

Now what about the Lord’s role in the prayer of this psalm? Here we can find a firm expression of faith even in the psalmist’s misery.

·         O Lord, you know all my longing; my groans are not hidden from you.

The Lord knows the moans and groans of our heart, even when we are not aware of His presence.

·         I count on you, O Lord: it is you, Lord God, who will answer.

The psalm concludes with one last urgent plea to the Lord now that the psalmists has eloquently expressed his grief and the tortured emotions of his heart:

O Lord, do not forsake me!

My God, do not stay afar off!

Make haste and come to my help,

O Lord, my God, my savior!  (vv. 22-23)

Of course, those last lines could be used as prayers of intercession under any circumstance. Use them well!

God bless you!

From the heart, not from the head

Monday, August 8, 2016

Feast of Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans

During the time of my vocational search I almost became a Dominican because I really liked their motto:

“To contemplate and to share with others the fruit of our contemplation.”

Notice, if you will, that the motto talks about “fruit.” Not about knowledge, or theory or theology or Biblical quotations, or even ideas, but rather about “fruit.” The result of prayer and contemplation. Like Jesus says, “You  will know a tree by its fruits” (I’m not giving the reference because I’m running late and don’t have  time to  look it up.)

So anyway, what does this mean for us?

Well, for one thing, don’t throw scripture quotes at someone unless that  quote happens to be a significant part of your own prayer. Note, for example, that when I post reflections about the psalms, the verses I comment on are verses that are an important and vital part of my own personal prayer.

Secondly, don’t talk too much about your ideas about things (That’s one of my ideas that I’m talking to you about). Let it come from your actual experience of the Lord in your prayer. And most of the time, the Lord you meet in prayer is very different from the Lord that is represented by others to you, the Lord whose only domain seems to be in people’s brains. All this is about heart, not about brain.

Finally, pray more. Especially the Jesus Prayer in meditation or prayer without words, as when  you might just sit in silence and stare at the crucifix.

About the crucifix: I have a friend whose husband has to travel a lot for work, and she finds it difficult some times to be without him (they are newly married). And when he’s away, she often walks around the apartment clutching his pillow because it helps her feel like he’s with her. Religious items such as crucifixes, holy cards, icons, etc., can be used as modes of presence in much the same way.

Now you might be completely puzzled about what I’m writing today. If so, just put it all aside and wait for tomorrow’s reflection. If, however, these observations really get you thinking and appeal to you in some way, then I strongly suggest you get yourself a copy of Richard Rohr’s book, “Things Hidden: scripture as spirituality.” and make your way through it slowly.

That’s enough  for today. God bless you all, even if you don’t understand what I’m  talking about, and may good Saint Dominic pray for us all and lead us deeper into contemplation.

Where are you headed?

Saturday, August 6. Feast of the Transfiguration

This is such a beautiful feast, with a beautiful Gospel about the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain with Peter, James and John. One of the usual interpretions of this event is that Christ wanted to show them his glory, and his union with Elijah and Moses (which means that all of Hebrew history is subsumed in him), so that when they had to face his suffering and death they would have some hope to cling to. There will be a time of trial, suffering and even death, but it will lead to ultimate glory.

I’d like to approach the feast from another direction. I’d like to approach the feast starting with us. In recent days, we’ve been discussing the issues of suffering and trial in our own regular lives, and I think that some time spent meditating on the beauty of Christ upon that mountain might sustain us as well. I’m not talking about Christ’s suffering; rather, I’m talking about our suffering, our trials, our humiliations, our pain and our ultimate demise should that be part of the plan in the not-too-distant future.

I’ve often encouraged people to look to the Cross in times of difficulty, and I still encourage you all to do that. But today’s feast gives us yet another focal point. This time it’s not a question of  looking to the cross, but rather looking to the glory that awaits us. Each of us, no  matter how low we think we may have sunk, no matter how hopelessly under the power of various evils that afflict us, no matter what the world may have to throw at us. Consider particular the plot of refugees and outcasts and victims of terrorist violence throughout the world today. My God, I wish I could to go each of them and show them the reality of the Transfiguration and say to them “this is where you’re headed.”

I wish I could show the reality of the Transfiguration to you as well and say to you, “this is where you’re headed.”

God bless you!

Uplifting stories from a friend

Friday, August 5, 2016

A friend sent me one of those wonderfully uplifting emails today. It is so inspiring that I decided to use it as my reflection for the day. Enjoy!

 
>       These 12 short
> stories are all very good lessons,
>       and really make us think twice about
> the daily happenings
>       in our lives as we deal with others!
     
>       1.
> Today,
>       I interviewed my grandmother for part of a
> research
>       paper I'm working on for my
> Psychology class. When I asked
>       her to define success in her own words,
> she
>       said, "Success is when you look back at
> your life and the
>       memories make
>       you smile."
> -------------------------------
> 2.
> Today,
>       I asked my mentor - a very successful business
> man in
>       his 70s- what his top 3 tips are for
> success. He smiled and
>       said, "Read something no one else is
> reading, think something no
>       one else is thinking,
> and do something no one else is
>       doing."
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 3.
> Today, after
>       my 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran
> up to
>       me at the grocery store and gave me a hug.
> When I tensed up,
>       she realized I didn't recognize
> her. She let go with tears
>       of joy in her eyes and the
> most sincere smile and
>       said , "On 9-11-2001, you carried me
> out of the
>       World Trade Center."
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 4.
> Today, after
>       I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on
>       the side of the road holding him and
> crying. And just
>       before he died, he licked the tears off
> my face.
>      
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 5.
> Today
>       at 7AM, I woke up feeling ill, but decided I
> needed the money,
>       so I went into work. At 3PM I got laid off.
> On my drive home
>       I got a flat tire. When I went into the
> trunk for the
>       spare, it was flat too. A man
> in a BMW pulled
>       over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then
> he offered me a job. I
>       start tomorrow.
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 6.
> Today,
>       as my father, three brothers, and two sisters
> stood
>       around my mother's hospital bed, my
> mother uttered her last
>       coherent words before she died. She
> simply said, "I feel so
>       loved right now. We should have gotten together
> like this
>       more often."
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 7.
> Today,
>       I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away
> in
>       a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds
> after he passed,
>       I realized it was the first time I had
> given him a kiss
>       since I was a
>       little boy.
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 8.
> Today,
>       in the cutest voice, my 8-year-old daughter asked
> me
>       to start recycling. I chuckled and
> asked, "Why ?" She
>       replied, "So you can help
> me save the planet." I chuckled
>       again and asked, "And why do you want to
> save the planet
>       ?" Because that's where I keep all
> my stuff,"
>       she said.
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 9.
> Today, when
>       I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer
>       patient laughing hysterically at her
> 2-year-old daughter's
>       antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop
> complaining about my
>       life and start celebrating
>       it again.
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 10.
> Today,
>       a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately
> struggling
>       on crutches with my broken leg and
> offered to carry my
>       backpack and books for
> me. He helped me all the way
>       across campus to my class and as he was leaving
> he said, "I
>       hope you feel
>       better soon."
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 11.
> Today,
>       I was feeling down because the results of a
> biopsy
>       came back malignant. When I got home, I
> opened an e-mail
>       that said, "Thinking of
> you today. If you need me, I'm a
>       phone call away." It was from a high
> school friend I
>       hadn't seen in 10
>       years.
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 12.
> Today,
>       I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from
>
>       Zimbabwe. He said he hadn't eaten
> anything in over 3 days
>       and looked extremely skinny
> and unhealthy. Then
>       my
> friend offered him the rest of the sandwich
>       he was eating. The first thing the man
> said was,
>       "We can share
>       it."
> --------------------------------------------------------
> The best
>       sermons are lived,
>       not preached.
> --------------------------------------------------------
> I am
>       glad I have you to send
>       these to.

God bless you!

For those of you going through a rough time

Thursday, August 5, 2016

Tuesday (I’m sorry I missed yesterday) I wrote about the 4^th Step of humility in the Rule of Saint Benedict, and about how people outside of the monastery, in the “real world,” live the 4^th step in your regular lives.

I found a passage in another book which serves well as a segue to Tuesday’s Reflection.

Consider, if you will, this statement by Richard Rohr:

Religion is largely populated by people afraid of hell; spirituality begins to make sense to those who have been through hell, that is, who have drunk deeply of life’s difficulties.

(Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 100. I highly recommend this book!)

Why might that be? I offer a couple of suggestions, but it would be most profitable if you came up with some of your own based on your own lived experience rather than on someone else’s theories. What I offer you here comes from my own lived experience, but might not resonate with yours. Anyway, here goes:

·         It has been during the roughest times of all that I desparately reach out for God and for whatever help I can get.

·         During such times, as soon as I have cried out to God, a profound calmness comes upon me, even though I might still be hurt, grieving, confused or frightened about the future.

·         The psalms come to life in a way that they never do before, particularly the psalms of lamentation and pain—which make up about a third of the Psalter.

·         In our own psalm study in these reflections, I have been pointing out verses that speak to us of the way God cares for us. Those are verses which have given me hope in times of despair, comfort in times of pain, patience in times of uncertainty. I am always left with a keen awareness of just how much I am taken care of, even though the difficult situation or circumstances has not yet been resolved, even when I can’t even see one step ahead of me as to how I am to proceed.

How about you?

God bless you this day.

Deal creatively with nasty stuff

August 2, 2016

The Fourth Step of Humility in the Rule of Saint Benedict is seen by many as the most difficult one, and many people who aren’t monks often wonder why anyone would agree to live according to such a difficult and almost demeaning stricture of the Rule:

The fourth step of humility is that in this obedience under difficult, unfavorable, or even unjust conditions, his heart quietly embraces suffering and endures it without weakening or seeking escape.

What people fail to realize most of the time is that what is described in this rule is common to the human condition. We all have to deal with these kinds of things in our lives, monks or not. The major difference is in how the monk is taught to deal with them.

I’m writing about this today because during noon prayer we listened to an excellent reading from Cistercian monk Dom Michael Casey OSCO of Australia. He eloquently fleshes out what is indicated in the text of the Rule, and again, as you read his words, I encourage you to be aware of how these various dura et aspera (Latin for “hard and difficult ways”) are present in your own life from time to time as well:

This, he says, is what can expect to encounter in monastic life (and, as I’ve indicated, in any human life):

harshness, things which go against the grain, injuries, suffering, ‘being tormented by death all day long,’ ‘being reckoned as sheep for the slaughter,’ ‘being tested like silver in the furnace,’ ‘being led into a trap,’ ‘having afflictions laid upon one’s back,’ ‘having men walk over one’s head’ which means being under a superior [my note: or boss or spouse], adversities, being ‘struck  on the cheek,’ having one’s clothes stolen, being forced to walk long distances and having to endure false brothers, persecution and being cursed.”

Many people, when they are met with such things, fight back, get angry and bitter, try to find a way around them or a way to eliminate them. Fr. Casey advises that “the monk would do better to take for granted that they, or something very similar, will always be with him and so to devote his energies to the task of living creatively despite them.” (The Virtue of Patience in the Western Tradition, pp. 16-17)

Perhaps we all should ask for the grace to be able to do the same.

God bless you and help you in your struggles!