We exist in the infinite embrace of God’s mercy. In mercy, we all were created. In mercy, we all live. In mercy, we all have the hope of eternal life.
The lavish mercy of God pours over us in every sunrise and sunset, in every noon and midnight. With every breath, we draw on mercy. With every thought, we capture its spirit and turn it to our hope. The gift of such divine power in us calls us to lavish mercy with our own lives, to be agents of mercy in all things.
This journal is offered as an act of thanksgiving and celebration for that lavish mercy. It is a gathering of reflections and prayers which sift through our ordinary experience to seek the breath-giving grace of God awaiting us there.
My name is Renee Yann. I am a Sister of Mercy. I love to chase God through the bright blessing of words. I love to discover words in the dark blessing of silence. It is a joy to share with you the humble fruit of those mutual blessings.
Our entire theological tradition is expressed in terms of Mercy, which I define as the willingness to enter into the chaos of others. James F. Keenan, S.J.
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Acts 2: 1-4
Prayer: from Bob Holmes
May the quiet fire of God's love and compassion arise in your heart. May its flames of love, joy, and peace enlighten the steps of your path in this world. And may you be like the burning bush, the presence of God for each other, that holy healing light of love.
Video: Imagine being there for the first Pentecost!
I will send to you the Spirit of truth Who will guide you to all truth.
John 16: 7, 13
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
This Saturday morning, we stand at the threshold of the great Feast of Pentecost. Let us simply take quiet time to prepare our hearts for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. We each know the places where we, and our suffering world, most need the awakening touch of God’s Life. Let’s ask for it!
(Over the next few days, you are invited to pray with lovely videos shared with me by my dear and creative friend, Sister Mary Kay Eichman. Here is one for the Vigil of Pentecost.)
After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” John 21:15
Perhaps we have spoken or heard these questions as we move through our heart’s life:
Do you love me?
How much do you love me?
Will you always love me?
Do you still love me?
But true love is immeasurable. It has shades and intensities, but it doesn’t have limits. True love is all; it’s everything – fidelity, forgiveness, delight, hope, chaos, perseverance, sacrifice, joy and generosity.
Jesus knows Peter possesses all these commitments to Him. But He is asking Peter to test himself before Peter is called to take Christ’s place on earth.
The only “more” that ever touched human love was when Jesus took our flesh to live, die, and rise for all of us. Jesus wants to hear Peter say he has that kind of sacrificial Love.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus knows us too, and how we want to love him well; how we may want to love him “more”. Let’s talk with him about that in our prayer today, asking to not let our chances for loving God slip by without our notice.
Poetry: This Paltry Love – Jessica Powers
I love you, God, with a penny match of love that I strike when the big and bullying dark of need chases my startled sunset over the hills and in the walls of my house small terrors move. It is the sight of this paltry love that fills my deepest pits with seething purgatory, that thus I love you, God—God—who would sow my heights and depths with recklessness of glory, who hold back light-oceans straining to spill on me, on me, stifling here in the dungeon of my ill. This puny spark I scorn, I who had dreamed of fire that would race to land’s end, shouting your worth, of sun that would fall to earth with a mortal wound and rise and run, streaming with light like blood, splattering the sky, soaking the ocean itself, and all the earth.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. John 17:20-21
Over several Gospel readings, we have been blessed to pray with the prayers of Jesus. Just before today’s passage, Jesus has consecrated those sitting around him who are his friends. In today’s extraordinary moment, Jesus blesses us – and all those down through the ages – who will to believe in Him.
Of course, faith is a gift we cannot acquire through our own effort. The consolation of faith, the feeling of faith, is something that sometimes evaded even the greatest saints. St. John of the Cross writes extensively about the “dark night of the soul” during which he had no emotional awareness of faith. At times, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Mother Theresa and even Jesus himself suffered a sense of isolation from God:
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:46
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Even when we find ourselves in a spiritual desert, we still can will to believe by opening our heart and experience to the grace God offers us – by our trust, our perseverance in prayer, and our patience with our own uncertainty.
Spiritual darkness, received as a gift, can reveal an otherwise undiscovered dimension of God’s Love for us.
Poetry: The Uses of Sorrow – Mary Oliver
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.
Music: One Dark Night – John Michael Talbot
In this beautiful music, Talbot recants lines based on the Song of Songs and the writings of St. John of the Cross – poetic imagery that strives to describe encounter with God.
One dark night Fired with love’s urgent longings Ah, the sheer grace In the darkness I went out unseen My house being all now still
In the darkness Secured by love’s secret ladder Disguised Oh, the sheer grace In the darkness And in my concealment My house being all now still
On that glad night In the secret, for no one saw me Nor did I see any other thing at all With no other light to guide me Than the light burning in my heart
And this light guided me More surely than the light of the noon To where he lay waiting for me Waiting for me Him I knew so well In a place where no one else appeared
Oh guiding night A light more lovely than the dawn A night that has united Ever now The Lover now with his beloved Transforming two now into one
Upon my flowering breast There he lay sleeping Which I kept for him alone And I embraced him And I caressed him In a breeze blowing from the forest
And when this breeze blew in from the forest Blowing back our hair He wounded my soul With his gentle hand Suspending all my senses
I abandoned, forgetting myself Laying my face on my Beloved All things ceasing, I went out from myself To leave cares Forgotten with the lilies of the field
And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. Acts 20:32
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. John 17: 17-19
Both our readings today describe the act of consecration. In Acts, Paul blesses the presbyters in Ephesus, anointing them for Gospel ministry. In John 17, Jesus prays to the Father for his disciples – that they may be blessed and confirmed in the Word which is Truth.
At some point in our lives, each one of us has been consecrated in that same Truth. We may have been baptized, confirmed, blessed, ordained, and professed. Through those consecrations, the Holy Spirit has been breathed into our hearts to form us in Truth which is God’s Word.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s gratefully remember the fullness of our consecration. By the grace of God, we embody the Divine Power of truth, love, and mercy. How often do we remember to call on this Power when life threatens to overwhelm or confuse us?
Poetry: A Blessing for Wedding – Jane Hirshfield While Hirshfield’s poem is directed toward the marriage vow, it is clearly applicable to all consecrations in which God is the sacred partner.
Today when persimmons ripen Today when fox-kits come out of their den into snow Today when the spotted egg releases its wren song Today when the maple sets down its red leaves Today when windows keep their promise to open Today when fire keeps its promise to warm Today when someone you love has died or someone you never met has died Today when someone you love has been born or someone you will not meet has been born Today when rain leaps to the waiting of roots in their dryness Today when starlight bends to the roofs of the hungry and tired Today when someone sits long inside his last sorrow Today when someone steps into the heat of her first embrace Today, let this light bless you With these friends let it bless you With snow-scent and lavender bless you Let the vow of this day keep itself wildly and wholly Spoken and silent, surprise you inside your ears Sleeping and waking, unfold itself inside your eyes Let its fierceness and tenderness hold you Let its vastness be undisguised in all your days
Music: Sanctus – Jessye Norman
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” John 15: 14-17
What about Matthias and the story of his emerging role in the spread of the Gospel? He must have been holy and good even to be considered for the office of Apostle. Were there just too many holy people initially to fit him into the biblically magic number of 12? And what about Justus who didn’t make the numerical cut? Was his giftedness lost to the early Church because of a short straw or a muffed coin flip?
In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that we are each “appointed” to bear fruit that will remain. No matter our title or function, we are equally “chosen” to nurture and sustain the life of the community.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s pray with Matthias that, whether recognized or unrecognized, we will be faithful to the Gospel in word and action.
Poetry: Fear of Being Chosen – Sister Natalia, member of Christ the Bridegroom Byzantine Catholic Monastery
O Matthias, what did you think, what did you feel, when you were beckoned forward? Did your heart race at the idea of joining ranks with those eleven? Eleven different types of broken, all seeking to be whole.
Did you fear the possibility of secret brokenness revealed? And did you also feel the thrill of sure adventure, after having seen the ups and downs of the men whose eyes were now on you?
You’d seen their pain, their dying, and in your heart felt a pull. One thing you must have known, known without a doubt being witness to the resurrection would mean a life of miracles.
And when you heard your name called out, and reality sunk in, did you feel that joyful pain of knowing that all now know that you are His?
Did your thoughts bounce back and forth between death and resurrection? And did you steal one more glance at Joseph Barsabbas and wonder, “Why not him?”
Music: Mathias Sanctus – Hildegard von Bingen (chanted by Bella Voce Chicago)
Mathias, sanctus per electionem, vir preliator per victoriam, ante sanguinem Agni electionem non habuit, sed tardus in scientia fuit quasi homo qui perfecte non vigilat.
Donum Dei illum excitavit, unde ipse pre gaudio sicut gygas in viribus suis surrexit, quia Deus illum previdit sicut hominem quem de limo formavit cum primus angelus cecidit, qui Deum negavit.
Homo qui electionem vidit – ve, ve, cecidit!
Boves et arietes habuit, sed faciem suam ab eis retrorsum duxit et illos dimisit.
Unde foveam carbonum invasit, et desideria sua osculatus in studio suo, illa sicut Olimpum erexit.
Tunc Mathias per electionem divinitatis sicut gygas surrexit, quia Deus illum posuit in locum quem perditus homo noluit.
O mirabile miraculum quod sic in illo resplenduit!
Deus enim ipsum previdit in miraculis suis cum nondum haberet meritum operationis, sed misterium Dei in illo gaudium habuit, quod idem per institutionem suam non habebat.
O gaudium gaudiorum quod Deus sic operatur, cum nescienti homini gratiam suam impendit, ita quod parvulus nescit ubi magnus volat, cuius alas Deus parvulo tribuit.
Deus enim gustum in illo habet qui seipsum nescit, quia vox eius ad Deum clamat sicut Mathias fecit, qui dixit: O Deus, Deus meus, qui me creasti, omnia opera mea tua sunt.
Nunc ergo gaudeat omnis ecclesia in Mathia, quem Deus in foramine columbe sic elegit. Amen.
Mathias, a saint through being chosen, a champion in his victory, did not know himself chosen before the Lamb’s blood was shed: he was tardy in knowledge, like a man who is not perfectly awake.
God’s gift aroused him, so that for joy he rose like a giant in his strength: God foresaw him as he had foreseen the man whom he formed of clay when the first angel, who denied God, fell.
The man who saw his choice, alas, alas, he fell!
He had oxen and rams at his bidding, yet he looked away from them, turned his back and abandoned them.
Thus he plunged in the pit of coal and, kissing his own desires, in his ardor he raised them high, like an Olympus.
Then Mathias, divinely chosen, rose like a giant, because God set him in the place that Judas, the lost, rejected:
O wondrous miracle that shone through him thus!
For God foresaw him in his miracles, though he had not yet the merit of accomplishment, but the mystery of God had joy in him, joy that in its original plan it did not have.
Joy of joys that God works in this way, when he lavishes his grace on one who does not know, so that the child does not know where the grown man will fly, whose wings God has given to the child!
For God savors the one who does not know himself, because his voice is crying out to God, as Mathias cried, saying: God, my God, who created me, all my works are yours!
So now let all Ecclesia take joy in Mathias, he whom God thus chose in the cleft where the dove nestles. Amen.
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world. John 16: 32-33
We can fool ourselves about what “courage” really is.
I grew up in a tough inner-city neighborhood. We kids had to have courage to survive the street dynamics our parents were blissfully unaware of. I had a lot of that kind of courage and still do. I’m not even afraid of mice, neighborhood toughs like Big Jimmy (remember him?), nor of monsters hiding under my bed.
But do I have the kind of courage Jesus is talking about?
the courage to believe when God seems silent
the courage to remain peaceful when spiritual turmoil surrounds me
the courage to live truthfully in a culture of lies
the courage to be patient with my own limitations
the courage to be merciful in the face of repeated affront
the courage to love what is not lovable
the courage to persevere when circumstances test me
the courage to champion and reverence the marginalized
the courage to challenge systemic indifference to the vulnerable
the courage to say “No” when it is what God would say
the courage to live God’s “Yes” in an unreceptive world
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s think about the kind of courage Jesus prayed for in his disciples. Let’s mirror our life against it and ask for more of it where we need it.
Poetry: Courage – Edgar A. Guest (sorry about the non-inclusive language)
Courage isn't a brilliant dash, A daring deed in a moment's flash; It isn't an instantaneous thing Born of despair with a sudden spring It isn't a creature of flickered hope Or the final tug at a slipping rope; But it's something deep in the soul of man That is working always to serve some plan.
Courage isn't the last resort In the work of life or the game of sport; It isn't a thing that a man can call At some future time when he's apt to fall; If he hasn't it now, he will have it not When the strain is great and the pace is hot. For who would strive for a distant goal Must always have courage within his soul.
Courage isn't a dazzling light That flashes and passes away from sight; It's a slow, unwavering, ingrained trait With the patience to work and the strength to wait. It's part of a man when his skies are blue, It's part of him when he has work to do. The brave man never is freed of it. He has it when there is no need of it.
Courage was never designed for show; It isn't a thing that can come and go; It's written in victory and defeat And every trial a man may meet. It's part of his hours, his days and his years, Back of his smiles and behind his tears. Courage is more than a daring deed: It's the breath of life and a strong man's creed.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. John 17:11-15
In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays with great tenderness for his beloved disciples. He asks the Father to “keep” his friends, the way we keep precious things in our hearts, our prayers, and our memories.
I have prayed like this for the people I love, haven’t you? We ask God to protect them the way we would protect them. We don’t ask for miracles, but simply that they be delivered from the evils of “this world”.
We want them to have the courage to live good lives, and to be blessed by that goodness. We want them to find joy in the immense blessings God offers us, yes, in “this world” as God created it.
This is the prayer Jesus offers for his disciples … and for each one of us.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Rest in Jesus’s prayer for those who love him that we may be one with him in Trinitarian Love. Let it convince your heart of the joy, hope, love, and mercy God has for each of us.
Poetry: May They Be One – Bob Hartman
And Jesus said:
This is my prayer. My prayer for the disciples who follow me now. And my prayer for all the disciples to come.
One. May they be One. As I am One with you, Father. As you are One with me. May they be One. One with us. So the world will believe that you have sent me.
One. May they be One. For you have given me your glory, and that's why I have passed it on to them. That they might be like you and me. That they might be One.
One. May they be One. Completely One. I in them. You in me. One. So the world will know you sent me, and that you love them, just like you love me…
A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace. Acts 18:24-27
In this passage, we meet early Christians who loved and supported one another as they spread the faith. Priscilla and Aquila were a power couple for the early Church. Eloquent Apollos arrives on the scene not perfectly synched with the evolving Gospel. Priscilla and Aquila tenderly redirect him, welcoming him to teach the community.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We get a great picture of the importance of having good buddies for the mission. As we look at our own lives in service, how precious are our faith companions as we deepen our life in Christ! How grateful we can be for the gentle corrections, encouragement and support we have received in community! Let us pray for our whole Church that we will understand what it means to truly “buddy” one another in Christ.
Poetry: Alone – Maya Angelou
Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with one thing And I don’t believe I’m wrong That nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
There are some millionaires With money they can't use Their wives run round like banshees Their children sing the blues They've got expensive doctors To cure their hearts of stone. But nobody No, nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know Storm clouds are gathering The wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering And I can hear the moan, 'Cause nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
Music: Companions on the Journey – Carey Landry
We are companions on the journey, Breaking bread and sharing life; And in the love we bear is the hope we share for we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
No longer strangers to each other, No longer strangers in God’s House; We are fed and we are nourished by the strength of those who care, By the strength of those who care.
We have been gifted each other, And we are called by the Word of the Lord: To act with justice, to love tenderly And to walk humbly with our God, To walk humbly with our God.
We will seek and we shall find; We will knock and the door will be opened; We will ask and it shall be given For we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
We are made for the glory of our God, For service in the name of Jesus, To walk side by side with hope in our Hearts, For we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy…
… So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” John 16:20
Jesus understands that life can be hard, and the Christian life even harder. His followers will face the grief of losing his physical presence, the scorn of their persecutors, and the sorrows inextricably woven into every human life. Their equanimity may break like a fragile eggshell under the press of these burdens.
But Jesus leaves them with a glorious promise. In him, their grief will be transformed to joy. They “will see him again”, not just in some distant parousia, They will see him in life itself as they learn to live it in the Father as Jesus has lived it.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace to believe Jesus’s promise, and to see God in our lives as they have been given to us. We pray for the courage to use that blessed assurance in a ministry of love and mercy to the world.
Poetry: Joy and Peace in Believing – John Newton (1725 – 1807), author of Amazing Grace
Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings; It is the Lord who rises With healing in his wings: When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again A season of clear shining, To cheer it after rain.
In holy contemplation, We sweetly then pursue The theme of God's salvation, And find it ever new: Set free from present sorrow, We cheerfully can say, E'en let th' unknown to-morrow Bring with it what it may.
It can bring with it nothing But he will bear us through; Who gives the lilies clothing, Will clothe his people too: Beneath the spreading heavens, No creature but is fed; And he who feeds the ravens, Will give his children bread.
Though vine nor fig-tree neither Their wonted fruit shall bear, Though all the field should wither, Nor flocks nor herds be there: Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice; For while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.
Music: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Johann Sebastian Bach
Lavish Mercy 