Month: September 2018

Never Forget

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Hope, Love3 Comments

Tuesday, September 11, 2018
A Day of Remembrance 

Jer20_11 Sept11

Today, in Mercy, almost anyone who has come of age remembers where we were this day seventeen years ago. We remember the horrifying scenes, the crushing sadness, the swelling anger, the hardening resolve.

Over these years, we have remembered again and again the innocent lives lost and hearts shattered. 

We have remembered, with a never-to-be-reclaimed nostalgia, a world of unguarded and comfortable safety.

Understandably, the memories have left many of us smaller, harder and meaner.

A question for our reflection today might be this. How do we remember inflicted pain in a way that makes us:

  • determined not vengeful
  • wise not judgmental
  • resilient not fearful
  • united not isolated 

We must do this because to do otherwise is to be consumed by the hatred that our enemy has heaped on us. And that would allow evil its victory.

So, on this solemn day, let us never forget. 

But let us remember with reverence, hope, faith, and love – and the unquenchable strength these engender. Let us remember with a grace that ennobles our loss, letting it empower rather than weaken us.

Music: In a Peaceful Valley (The Dance of Innocents)
~ Peter Kater & Nawang Khechog

Pray with this beautiful music and allow it to bless, heal, and release the sacred power of your memories.

Apples and Oranges

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Gospel, holiness, spirituality2 Comments

Monday, September 10, 2018

       Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091018.cfm

Today, in Mercy, our Gospel finds the Pharisees once again confronting Jesus with a dilemma.  It is the Sabbath, a day when any kind of “work” is prohibited. Yet, a man with a withered hand approaches Jesus needing to be cured. Should Jesus do this work?

Lk6_9 law or mercy

It is the classic, Pharisaical confrontation: appearing to weigh two equal responses which in reality are incomparable – like apples and oranges. They are similar only on the surface. Their essences are quite distinct.

Jesus’ continuing debate with the Pharisees always swirls around the balance between law and spirit. The Pharisees have idolized the Law, allowing it to swallow the Spirit. Under their intransigent interpretation, the poor crippled man in today’s Gospel would have lost the chance for healing.

We call quandaries like this being “between a rock and a hard place”. The ancient Greeks called  it “between Scylla and Charybdis” – an adjacent huge rock and whirlpool which threatened to swallow their ships passing through. The image powerfully captures the angst accompanying  these dilemmas.

We navigate such hazards throughout our lives, facing choices which are often unclear and confusing. Our alternatives sail the wide range between “law” and “spirit”, between what seems advantageous and what seems right, between what is comfortable and what is spiritually challenging, between what is “legal” and what is just and merciful.

How do we choose according to the pattern of Christ? How do we choose forgiveness, mercy, inclusive love, peace and charity in a world that screams “Choose selfishly. You deserve it!”

Through prayer, scriptural reflection, and merciful service, our spirits absorb that Sacred Pattern of Christ. It is in the shape of the Cross. It will guide us between our Scylla and Charybdis.

Today’s song is simple, almost childlike – but that simplicity is often just what we need in the face of a dilemma.
Music: I Choose You – Libby Allen Songs

Be Opened!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Prayer4 Comments

Sunday, September 9, 2018

       Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090918.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we pray in the power of the Gospel:

mk7_14 ephphatha

(Pray each phrase slowly.
Let the silence between each
find the closed places deep within.)

Ephphatha!  Be opened:
  • All minds to God’s omnipresence
  • All hearts to God’s infinite love
  • All spirits to God’s tender proposals
  • All eyes to God’s eternal vision 
  • All ears to God’s cry in the poor
  • All mouths to speak God’s Word in justice
  • All plans to the rhythm of God’s freedom
  • All dreams to God’s dream for all.
  • Be opened – especially in me today. 🙏 Amen!

Music: Open My Eyes, Lord – Jesse Manibusan

Dance!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, joy, Love, Mary, Mercy, spirituality14 Comments

Saturday, September 8, 2018

       Readings:  Click here for readings.

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Birthday of Mary, Mother of Jesus.

Ps13_6 bountifully

It is a special day for me and many of my Sisters, as September 8th was one of the traditional entrance dates for young women joining the community.  Fifty-five years ago, the sun rose bright as gold at my bedroom window. Its rays fell along the hem of my long, black postulant’s dress hanging in expectation on the door. 

On that day, I would step into an unwritten future, every possibility already joyfully given to God. Like Mary, I and my companions were being born into a God-destined life. It was a thrilling moment for me.

fam
Taken about nine months after Entrance Day.                                          ( Notice the guy still crying in the back!)

What I really didn’t think about that day was my mother. Yes, there was joy, but there was some pain watching me be born into a second life beyond her.

On this Feastday, I think about St. Anne and wonder what blessings and hopes she whispered over young Mary. I think about how Anne felt as she watched Mary choose her own path to God; how she felt as Mary’s awesome life unfolded. And I pray in thanksgiving for my own mother.

This morning, I stand in amazed and humble gratitude to see time’s long cast over the years. Decades seem folded into moments, a thousand stories bound in a single, grateful prayer. God, indeed, has dealt bountifully with me. But somehow I believe that God was encouraged to do so by my mother. 🤗🙏

The music today may seem an unusual choice, but I think it captures a hope every loving mother has for her child. Anne may have hummed the hope over Mary in Aramaic tones; my mother over me in a 1940’s ballad. May we sing a melody of grace over all our children, freeing and blessing them to dance with God.

Blessings and love to my “Band of Sisters”, shown here as we marked our Golden Jubilee five years ago. (Missing our dear Arizona contingent who was unable to join us that day.)

May you continue to be bountifully blessed, beloved companions in Mercy!

Band_Golden

Music: I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack

Decant the New Wine

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, inclusivity, Jesus, Love, Mercy, peace, spirituality1 Comment

Friday, September 7, 2019

       Reading: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QbJaM_EneMw

Today, in Mercy, Jesus offers the Pharisees “new wine”, the freedom of his law of love over their accustomed law of requirements.

Lk5_38 Wine

Have you ever found yourself in circumstances where you’re saying or hearing things like this:

  • It’s the law
  • That’s the way we’ve always done it
  • Sorry. They’re the rules.
  • Doesn’t matter. No exceptions.

In such situations, we are experiencing a code of limitations where we are defined either by what we must do or must not do. 

The Pharisaical law had become such a code, its spirit and freedom worn away by ages of control, authoritarianism, and brittle institutionalization.

Jesus preaches the new law of love, which can sound a little squishy and self-indulgent at first, because our navel-gazing culture has so eviscerated the meaning of love.

But real Christian love is the hardest “code” we will ever practice. Patterned on Jesus’ life, it is a discipline of mercy, self-sacrifice, radical inclusivity, non-violence, and forgiveness. Such a love will die for the sake of the beloved’s life in God.

Drinking this “new wine” brings us a profound freedom in God Who loves us like this — but infinitely.

Music: New Wine – Hillsong

Drop Everything for Christ

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Jesus, spirituality6 Comments

Thursday, September 6, 2018

       Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090618.cfm

Today, in Mercy, our readings lead us to consider our call.

Lk5_11 leftJPG

The call to discipleship comes to us within the other calls of our life: the call to be a good parent, spouse, sibling, child. It comes in the call to be a moral, values-driven employer; an honest, hard-working employee; a supportive, engaged co-worker. Christ asks us to mirror him as neighbor, friend, colleague, and citizen.

In whatever skill or profession we practice, Christ asks us to exercise it as he would – to choose, judge and behave as he would.

In our Gospel, the first disciples are astonished at the miracle of the fishes. Like a lightening bolt, that astonishment transforms their world view. They now see Christ as the Center of their lives. They drop their nets on the seashore. They leave everything to follow him.

What is it that we must leave to make Christ the center of our lives? What nets are we caught in that keep us from freeing the call within us?

We are challenged by a world filled with the entanglements of greed, destructive power, aggression, bigotry, lies, and political & social pretense. How much have these infected the purity of our desire to follow Jesus?

Music: Lord, You Have Come to the Seashore- Caesareo Gabarain

Lord, You have come to the seashore
Neither searching for…the rich nor the wise,…
desiring only…that I should follow
Refrain:
O Lord, with your eyes set upon me,
gently smiling, you have spoken my name;
all I longed for I have found by the water.
At your side, I will seek other shores.

Lord, see my goods, my possessions;
in my boat you find…no power, no wealth…
Will you accept then…my nets and labor?

Lord,…take my hands and direct them
Help me spend myself in seeking the lost,…
returning love for…the love you gave me.

Lord,…as I drift on the waters…
be the resting place…of my restless heart,…
my life’s companion,…my friend and refuge.

Christ Depends on Us

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, spirituality, Uncategorized3 Comments

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

       Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090518.cfm

Today, in Mercy, both Paul and Luke talk about ministry – our loving and merciful service to one another through prayer, word, and action.

LK4_18 good news

Paul says this ministry must be humble and mutual. This is because all the good that any of us does comes from God, not from us.

Jesus shows us that our ministry must be immediate and practical, responding to the present needs of our sisters and brothers. You wouldn’t think Jesus had time to pay attention to Peter’s mother-in-law, but he did. Her need drew his ministry out of him.

You will meet your own “Peter’s mother-in-law” today – someone whose apparent need touches your goodness. They may need a smile, an encouragement, an invitation or a gentle correction from you. They may come to you from a distance, in a request for service or funding. They may come in news story crying out for your prayers or civic action.

People can be poor in many ways.  Even the apparently free can be held captive by hidden burdens. Sometimes these burdens hide under a false bravado, impudence, indifference, or pride that make it difficult to pity their bearers. 

We will meet these people in our families, workplaces, schools and neighborhoods. 

Our response should reflect the humble and spontaneous Mercy and Love of Jesus who was always honest, respectful and kind. This is the ministry of every Christian because…

Music: Christ Has No Body Now But Yours ~ David Ogden

Our Breath within God’s Own

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Holy Spirit, Mercy, spirituality, Thanksgiving3 Comments

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

          Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090418.cfm

Ps145_kindJPG

Today, in Mercy, we have an awesome first reading from Corinthians in which Paul assures us:

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 us by God.

What joy to realize that God’s own Spirit dwells within us making us one with God, breath within Breath. We have that intimate comfort of knowing God as our dearest Friend, Confidant, and Lover.

Nothing in our lives falls outside God’s embrace and compassion. God’s kindness, graciousness and lavish mercy sustain and inspire us always to believe, to hope, and to love.

In thanksgiving, we pray today’s most fitting Psalm 145.

Music: The Lord Is Kind and Merciful – Jeanne Cotter; David Haas

What’s Inside Counts

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, Prayer6 Comments

Monday, September 3, 2018

       Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090318.cfm

Gregory Great

Today, in Mercy, on this feast of Gregory the Great, our readings offer us this insight: in all things, it is the Spirit that matters –  not appearances.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that he came among them frightened and weak, with unpersuasive and trembling words. But he preached beyond those appearances in “Spirit and power” so that their faith ultimately rested on God, not Paul.

In his hometown synagogue, Jesus tells his community that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy. They can’t accept it because they can’t get beyond the appearances of Jesus as humble, unexceptional neighbor. They are unable to recognize the Spirit and anointing in Jesus because they will not believe without miracles.

These readings call us to that deep, interior trust in God which is built on relationship not miracles. We must not be like those who love only because of what they are given. We must love because of what we know and cherish – a deep, interior binding to God’s heart and will Who loved us first, and will love us always.

The song below was written by a 24-year old mother, feeling a little lost and tested in her faith. She asked God for the words to pray. This simple mantra came to her. You might like it for your mantra today.

Music: I Love You, Lord ~ written by Laurie Klein, sung here by Maranatha Singers

All Good Gifts

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, holiness, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Sunday, September 2, 2018

       Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090218.cfm

Today, in Mercy,  In our first reading, James writes elegantly to his community. He reminds them and us that all gifts originate in our changeless, loving God Who breathed us to life from his infinite and Lavish Mercy.

Jms1_17 gifts

Then James just so simply enjoins is:

  • So hear God’s Word of Love in your hearts
  • Be good by doing good for the afflicted

James says that doing this is “religion pure and undefined”.

In our Gospel, Jesus reinforces this truth. The Pharisees want to condemn Jesus and the disciples for breaking a ritual hand-washing rule. Jesus says those human rules are lip-worship. What God wants is a loving and sincere heart proven by loving and sincere deeds.

On this first Sunday in September, let us rejoice in the gifts God has given us- life, faith, the ability to love and hope. Let us reach out by prayer and service to those who might be blessed by our sharing. 

That reach can be so simple: a smile, a phone call, a small courtesy, a solitary prayer. Or it can be huge: a long-delayed forgiveness, a turning from unhealthy or unholy behaviors, a commitment to faith and service. We ask the Father of Lights to inspire us.

Music: Every Good Gift ~ One:A Worship Collective