Month: September 2021

The Little Flower

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Friday, October 1, 2021

Today’s Readings
Thérèse of Lisieux (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897) 
was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun 
who is widely venerated in modern times. 
She is popularly known in English as "The Little Flower”.  
In her short life, she radiated a sacred simplicity, 
often referred to as “The Little Way” 
which has inspired generations of spiritual seekers. 
Pope Pius X called her the greatest saint of modern times.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, in place of the dour readings of the day, we pray with some thoughts from the Little Flower herself:

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart;
it is a simple look turned toward heaven,
it is a cry of recognition and of love,
embracing both trial and joy.

When one loves, one does not calculate.

The world’s your ship and not your home.

Poetry: To Live in Love by Thérèse of the Child Jesus – a beautiful long prayer-poem. You may wish to use just a stanza or two, or to pray with the musical version below.

If any one love Me, they will keep My word and My Father will love them
and We will come to them and make Our abode with them…
My peace I give unto you … Abide in My love.”
(John 14, 23,27,-15:9)

The eve His life of love drew near its end,
Thus Jesus spoke: “Whoever loveth Me,
And keeps My word as Mine own faithful friend,
My Father, then and I his guests will be;
Within his heart will make Our dwelling above.
Our palace home, true type of heaven above.
There, filled with peace, We will that he shall rest,
With us, in love.

Incarnate Word! Thou Word of God alone!
To live of love, ’tis to abide with Thee.
Thou knowest I love Thee, Jesus Christ, my Own!
Thy Spirit’s fire of love enkindleth me.
By loving Thee, I draw the Father here
Down to my heart, to stay with me always.
Blest Trinity! Thou art my prisoner dear,
Of love, to-day.

To live of love, ’tis by Thy life to live,
O glorious King, my chosen, sole Delight!
Hid in the Host, how often Thou dost give
Thyself to those who seek Thy radiant light.
Then hid shall be my life, unmarked, unknown,
That I may have Thee heart to heart with me;
For loving souls desire to be alone,
With love, and Thee!

To live of love, ’tis not to fix one’s tent
On Tabor’s height and there with Thee remain.
‘Tis to climb Calvary with strength nigh spent,
And count Thy heavy cross our truest gain.
In heaven, my life a life of joy shall be,
The heavy cross shall then be gone for aye.
Here upon earth, in suffering with Thee,
Love! let me stay.

To live of love, ’tis without stint to give,
An never count the cost, nor ask reward;
So, counting not the cost, I long to live
And show my dauntless love for Thee, dear Lord!
O Heart Divine, o’erflowing with tenderness,
How swift I run, who all to Thee has given!
Naught but Thy love I need, my life to bless.
That love is heaven!

To live of love, it is to know no fear;
No memory of past faults can I recall;
No imprint of my sins remaineth here;
The fire of Love divine effaces all.
O sacred flames! O furnace of delight!
I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove.
In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night.
I live of love!

To live of love, ’tis in my heart to guard
A mighty treasure in a fragile vase.
Weak, weak, am I, O well beloved Lord!
Nor have I yet an angel’s perfect grace.
But, if I fall each hour that hurries by,
Thou com’st to me from Thy bright home above,
And, raising me, dost give me strength to cry:
I live of love!

To live of love it is to sail afar
And bring both peace and joy where’er I be.
0 Pilot blest! love is my guiding star;
In every soul I meet, Thyself I see.
Safe sail I on, through wind or rain or ice;
Love urges me, love conquers every gale.
High on my mast behold is my device:
“By love I sail!”

To live of love, it is when Jesus sleeps
To sleep near Him, though stormy waves beat nigh.
Deem not I shall awake Him! On these deeps
Peace reigns, like that the Blessed know on high.
To Hope, the voyage seems one little day;
Faith’s hand shall soon the veil between remove;
‘Tis Charity that swells my sail always.
I live of love!

To live of love, 0 Master dearest, best!
It is to beg Thee light Thy holiest fires
Within the soul of each anointed priest,
Till he shall feel the Seraphim’s desires;
It is to beg Thee guard Thy Church, 0 Christ!
For this I plead with Thee by night, by day;
And give myself, in sacrifice unpriced,
With love always!

To live of love, it is to dry Thy tears,
To seek for pardon for each sinful soul,
To strive to save all men from doubts and fears,
And bring them home to Thy benign control.
Comes to my ear sin’s wild and blasphemous roar;
So, to efface each day, that burning shame,
I cry: ” 0 Jesus Christ! I Thee adore.
I love Thy Name!”

To live of love, ’tis Mary’s part to share,
To bathe with tears and odorous perfume
Thy holy feet, to wipe them with my hair,
To kiss them; then still loftier lot assume,
To rise, and by Thy side to take my place,
And pour my ointments on Thy holy head.
But with no balsams I embalm Thy Face!
‘Tis love, instead!

“To live of love, what foolishness she sings!”
So cries the world. “Renounce such idle joy!
Waste not thy perfumes on such trivial things.
In useful arts thy talents now employ!”
To love Thee, Jesus! Ah, this loss is gain;
For all my perfumes no reward seek I.
Quitting the world, I sing in death’s sweet pain:
Of love I die!

To die of love, O martyrdom most blest!
For this I long, this is my heart’s desire;
My exile ends; I soon will be at rest.
Ye Cherubim, lend, lend to me your lyre!
O dart of Seraphim, O flame of love,
Consume me wholly; hear my ardent cry!
Jesu, make real my dream! Come Holy Dove!
Of love I die!

To die of love, behold my life’s long hope!
God is my one exceeding great reward.
He of my wishes forms the end and scope;
Him only do I seek; my dearest Lord.
With passionate love for Him my heart is riven.
O may He quickly come! He draweth nigh!
Behold my destiny, behold my heaven,
OF LOVE TO DIE.

February 25, 1895 

Music: St. Thérèse’s Canticle of Love – Sister Marie Thérèse Sokol, OCD

God’s Two Great Books

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Faith, ordinary time, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Thursday, September 30, 2021

St. Jerome in His Study by Domenico Ghirlandaio

Jerome is best known for his translation of most of the Bible into Latin
(the translation that became known as the Vulgate)
and his commentaries on the whole Bible. 

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 19 which Charles Spurgeon, noted 19th century preacher, calls “the study of God’s two great books—nature and Scripture”.

Psalm 19 is a beautiful prayer for this time of year when nature erupts in unparalleled beauty. It is also perfect for this day when we celebrate Jerome who shaped our scriptures into the form we cherish today.

The psalm concludes with a wholehearted confession of faith and hope. It is a prayer all of us long to offer God in the sincerity of our hearts.

Scripture scholar James L. Mays notes that to comprehend this final expression of faith, we must pray with the whole psalm.

  • The psalm is divided into three parts
  • Creation’s testimony to the Creator (vv. 1–6),
  • the incomparable value of the law of the LORD (vv. 7–10), 
  • the human need for divine forgiveness and protection (vv. 11–13).

Two poems and a song captured the flow of my prayer today.

  1. As I pray the first part of the psalm , my spirit is opened to Creation’s power and beauty – an expression of God’s omnipotence and glory.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.
Day unto day pours forth speech;
night unto night whispers knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-3

To Autumn – William Blake

Motherhouse Front Lawn – Merion, PA
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.
The spirits of the air live in the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.
The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.
The spirits of the air live in the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

2. Praying the second part of Psalm 19, I think about the gift of the scriptures, and how I turn to them in all the seasons of my life.

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart.

Psalm 19: 8-9

After Her Death – Mary Oliver

I am trying to find the lesson
for tomorrow. Matthew something.
Which lectionary? I have not
forgotten the Way, but, a little,
the way to the Way. The trees keep whispering
peace, peace, and the birds
in the shallows are full of the
bodies of small fish and are
content. They open their wings
so easily, and fly. It is still
possible.
           I open the book
which the strange, difficult, beautiful church
has given me. To Matthew. Anywhere.

And praying the third part of Psalm 19, I hear this hymn echoing in my spirit.

Only in God – John Michael Talbot

Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Poetry, Prayer, spirituality2 Comments

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 138 which begins with the beautiful  verse:

I will praise You with my whole heart…

Abraham with the Three Angels – Rembrandt

As we celebrate the feast of the three great archangels, known to us by name because of their appearances in the Bible, we are invited to explore all the aspects of our spirituality – our whole heart.

As bodily beings, we might most often pray by using our senses:

  • with what we read and see with our eyes
  • with vocal prayer or soulful music
  • with the transporting aroma of incense
  • with the tactile assurance of a rosary over our fingertips

But we are also spiritual beings. There are dimensions of our experience that could never be put into words. There are melodies playing within us too profound to be rendered in notes.

There is a Presence within us beyond and greater than ourselves, breathed into us at our creation, and longing for the fulfillment of Heaven. Our human experience is like a shadow cast over time by the Great Light Who lives and loves in us.

The angels are beings released from that shadow. They completely dwell in and radiate the One Who breathed them forth in the fullness of Light. They are the ones who companion us to the wondrous edges of our own possibility –

as Raphael did for Tobit (Tobit 12:1-22)
as Michael did for Daniel (Daniel 10:13-21)
as Gabriel did for Mary (Luke 1:26-38)

These stories might inspire us today to speak and listen to our angels, one of whom is particularly charged to guide us.

Poetry: A Sonnet for St. Michael the Archangel – Malcolm Guite

Michaelmas gales assail the waning year,
And Michael’s scale is true, his blade is bright.
He strips dead leaves; and leaves the living clear
To flourish in the touch and reach of light.
Archangel bring your balance, help me turn
Upon this turning world with you and dance
In the Great Dance. Draw near, help me discern,
And trace the hidden grace in change and chance.
Angel of fire, Love’s fierce radiance,
Drive through the deep until the steep waves part,
Undo the dragon’s sinuous influence
And pierce the clotted darkness in my heart.
Unchain the child you find there, break the spell
And overthrow the tyrannies of Hell.

Music: Confitebor Tibi Domine – Francisco Valls

Psalmus 138Psalm 138
1 Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo quoniam audisti verba oris mei in conspectu angelorum psallam tibi1 I will praise thee, O lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of his angels:
2 Adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum et confitebor nomini tuo super misericordia tua et veritate tua quoniam magnificasti super omne nomen sanctum tuum2 I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all.
3 In quacumque die invocavero te exaudi me multiplicabis me in anima mea virtute3 In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me: thou shall multiply strength in my soul.
4 Confiteantur tibi Domine omnes reges terrae quia audierunt omnia verba oris tui4 May all the kings of the earth give glory to thee: for they have heard all the words of thy mouth.
5 Et cantent in viis Domini quoniam magna gloria Domini5 And let them sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 Quoniam excelsus Dominus et humilia respicit et alta a longe cognos cit6 For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he knoweth afar off.
7 Si ambulavero in medio tribulationis vivificabis me super iram inimicorum meorum extendisti manum tuam et salvum me fecit dextera tua7 If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me.
8 Dominus retribuet propter me Domine misericordia tua in saeculum opera manuum tuarum ne dispicias8 The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the work of thy hands

Cherished Destiny

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

September 28, 2021
Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 87, a Song of Zion which imagines the future Jerusalem as the world’s center of worship.

The foundation upon the holy mountains
    the LORD loves:
The gates of Zion,
    more than any dwelling of Jacob.
Glorious things are said of you,
    O city of God!

Psalm 87: 1-3

For centuries, the Jews had been scattered through many alien countries. Some had lost their ties to their inherited faith. The psalm calls all people “home” to the worship of the one, true God.

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Frederic Edwin Church

Jerusalem is a profoundly unifying symbol for Jews. That is why it is so important for Jesus to “go up to Jerusalem” in order to accomplish our redemption. As our Gospel tells us:

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,
he steadfastly turned his face to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51

Praying with these passages may seem difficult for Christians if we have no emotional ties to the city of Jerusalem. But for us, Jerusalem serves as a symbol of that stable and committed faith which allows us to live our lives in the pattern of Jesus.

We journey too, as Jesus did toward the fullness of life in God. Our journey takes singular steadfastness, just as his did, a commitment rooted in faith and grace.

Together in faith, we form a New Jerusalem, glorious in each one of us through our Baptism into Christ.

Poetry: A Sonnet – Malcolm Guite

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The saviour comes. But will I welcome him?
Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start;
They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing,
And think the battle won. Too soon they’ll find
The challenge, the reversal he is bringing
Changes their tune. I know what lies behind
The surface flourish that so quickly fades;
Self-interest, and fearful guardedness,
The hardness of the heart, its barricades,
And at the core, the dreadful emptiness
Of a perverted temple. Jesus  come
Break my resistance and make me your home.

Music: Jerusalem, My Destiny – Rory Cooney

God’s Generous Jealousy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Love, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

Monday, September 27, 2021
Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 102 which, together with our first reading from Zechariah, paints a picture of enduring love and hope:

  1. the desperate yet hopeful prayer of one overwhelmed by life

Let this be written for the generation to come,
    and let  future creatures praise the Lord:
“The LORD looked down from the holy height,
    from heaven  beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
    to release those doomed to die.”

Psalm 102: 19-21

2. the response of a faithful God, overwhelmed by love

Thus says the LORD of hosts:
I am intensely jealous for Zion,
        stirred to jealous wrath for her.
    Thus says the LORD:
I will return to Zion,
    and I will dwell within Jerusalem;
Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city,
    and the mountain of the LORD of hosts,
   the holy mountain.

Zechariah 8:1-3

The “jealous love” described here is an infinite and divine Love – the only Love entitled to be possessive because It has created us. 

It is a jealousy unlike our human pettiness, rooted instead in God’s desire for our free response to the gift of our creation. 

God loves us so much as to continually bring us home to Love despite any detours we take.

Lo, I will rescue my people from the land of the rising sun,
    and from the land of the setting sun.
I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God,
    with faithfulness and justice.

Zechariah 8:8

In our prayer today, we might allow ourselves to be aware of God’s “jealousy” for us throughout our lives, never giving up on turning us toward Love – even when the turning may have been “like a hurricane”.

Poetry: GOD OF SHELTER, GOD OF SHADE (ISAIAH 4:6) by Irene Zimmerman, OSF

God of shelter from the rain,
God of shade from the heat,

I run from You
through the muddy street
of my uncommitted heart
till wild winds beat
against my doors,
blasting sand
through all my walls,
and I stand
without retreat,
hear Your command
to be the wheat. 

Sweet the giving!
Sweet this land! 

God of shelter from the rain.
God of shade from the heat.

Music: How He Loves Us – David Crowder Band

Seek an Unjealous Heart

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, ordinary time, spiritualityLeave a comment

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 26, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our reading from the Book of Numbers reveals a very human moment between Joshua and Moses.

Moses Blesses Joshua – James Tissot

Moses is getting older. He realizes that the time is approaching for him to hand over the leadership of his people. God seems to realize that too.

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.


Joshua, ever since his youth, has been aide to Moses. Moses is his hero – the one, who having spoken with God, led the People out of Egypt. Now Joshua sees other ordinary guys assuming some of Moses’s roles. Joshua feels his own security and comfort shifting beneath him – hints of a spiritual earthquake.

An outraged Joshua alerts Moses, begging him to stop these supposed imposters. But Moses assures Joshua with words no hero-worshipper ever wants to hear:


Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!


What a powerful question Moses poses. It searches Joshua’s heart:

Are you jealous for my sake? 

Are you fearful, biased, closed-hearted,
and self-protective because you fear
that you and I will lose position and power?

Surely Moses senses Joshua emerging as the next leader of Israel — even though Joshua might not share that awareness yet. Moses wants him to see that it is the Spirit of God Who leads the People through any human means She wishes.

When we presume to control the Spirit, or think to invest Her power only in our own particular “heroes”, we close ourselves to the amazing, surprising power of God. This Divine Power cannot be controlled and, like wildflowers through concrete, will bloom where She chooses.

We see the fruits of such presumption all over our histories: the falsely assumed superiority of men over women, whiteness over color, wealth over labor, or any form of dominance over mutuality. These assumptions become concretized in our culture, hardening us to the movements of the Spirit.

If we have any hold on privilege in our lives, we might be inclined to profit by these assumptions. It is just such an inclination that Moses nips in Joshua in this powerful exchange between revered teacher and apprentice.

The story offers us much to consider in prayer.

Music: An oldie, but goodie. Always brings me a deep peace.  I hope it does the same for you, dear reader.
Come Holy Ghost – The Singing Nuns

Resilient Hope

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Hope, ordinary time, Poetry, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
September 25, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 43 whose heart reveals the nature of hope and its power to inspire praise.

Wait for God, whom I shall again praise,
my savior and my God.

Psalm 43 is really the completion of Psalm 42, and they form a masterful combination. 

According to biblical scholar Carroll Stuhmueller:

The three stanzas of Psalm 42-43 lead listeners and readers through depression, struggle, and hope. The refrain sung at the end of each stanza contains three parts that summarize the attitude of each:
Why are you cast down, O my soulDepression
and why are you disquieted within me?Struggle
Hope in God Whom I shall again praise,Hope
my Lord and my God.Praise
Stuhmueller: Spirituality of the Psalms

The psalm follows logically after today’s first reading in which the prophet Haggai challenges the people to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and get working on the restoration of the Temple. The prophet proclaims encouragement in God’s name:

For I am with you, says the LORD of hosts.
This is the pact that I made with you
when you came out of Egypt,
And my spirit continues in your midst;
do not fear!

Haggai 2:5

Praying with these readings, we may reflect on our own current or past challenges in the light of faith and hope. God is with us now as God always has been, and will be. 

We are empowered by that promise to live courageous, generous lives. This is what hope looks like when it is alive in us.

Poetry: Hope – Czeslaw Milosz

Hope is with you when you believe
The earth is not a dream but living flesh,
that sight, touch, and hearing do not lie,
That all thing you have ever seen here
Are like a garden looked at from a gate.
You cannot enter. But you're sure it's there.
Could we but look more clearly and wisely
We might discover somewhere in the garden
A strange new flower and an unnamed star.
Some people say that we should not trust our eyes,
That there is nothing, just a seeming,
There are the ones who have no hope.
They think the moment we turn away,
The world, behind our backs, ceases to exist,
As if snatched up by the hand of thieves.

Music: Angel of Hope – Erik Berglund

A Blessed Mercy Day

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, Mercy, spirituality11 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
September 24, 2021

Today’s Readings

The link below will take you to Mercy International Center’s website. About mid-page, you can click to see Catherine McAuley’s story, “In God Alone”. It is a wonderful short film. Please take time to enjoy it and to thank God with the Sisters of Mercy for our blessed founder, dear Catherine. Blessings and love to all our Mercy family throughout the world!

Link to Film

Music: In God Alone by Bernadette Farrell

God Delights in Us!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, joy, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms, spirituality4 Comments

Memorial of Padre Pio 

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 149, a call to praise God in festive celebration because God will enjoy that!

Praying with that thought today, I ask myself:

Is my God a happy God?

Our psalm says “Yes!” – a Lover of song, joy, praise, dance, timbrel and harp!

Hallelujah!
Sing to the Lord a new song; 
sing the praises of God in the company of the faithful. 
Let Israel rejoice in their maker;
let the children of Zion be joyful in their sovereign. 
Let them praise the name of the Lord in the dance;
let them sing praise to God with timbrel and harp. 
For the Lord takes pleasure in this people.

Psalm 149:1-4

Only a happy God could have imagined the beautiful gift of Creation we have been given. Stop today to listen, watch, and feel that happiness in sun, rain, wood scent, birdsong, cat purr, baby breath, child play, elder eyes, or the thousand other ways God will try to touch your soul today.

( Praying for the safety of all our friends in Australia with the earthquakes and for people of the Canary Islands.❤️🙏)

Poetry: The Creation of Birds – Renee Yann, RSM

O, the wonderful mood that seized You,
God, as you created birds;
you dancing there, twirling in light,
flinging your crystal arms to infinite music,
flicking your hands like magic fountains,
feathers and colors splashing out from your fingertips,
chattering, rainbowed profusions
of your Boundless Life.

Your inexhaustible, joy-filled soul laughing out
the soaring beings into the still universe,
peals of you infusing them each
to their measure with notes of your inner song.
O, I see your Holy Eyes flash color to them
as they fly, strobing their feathers
with shards of your prismed white light.

This morning, seeing only one, 
free and jubilant in a thin sycamore,
I consume it as part of your Delightful Essence,
this day’s communion with you, 
grey and orange wafer filling me 
with mysteries of the primal dance 
from which we both were born.

Music: You Delight in Me – Life Center Worship

Autumn Equinox

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Faith, Love, Poetry, Seasons, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

September 22, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, as we mark the Autumn Equinox, we pray with a verse from our Responsorial Psalm:

Bless the Lord, all you chosen ones,
and may all of you praise God’s majesty.
Celebrate days of gladness, 
give God praise.

Tobit 13: 7-8
"EQUINOX"
- the beautiful heft of the word!
Four malleable vowels and
two steely consonants,
softened slightly by a third.
On the fulcrum of a middle "i",
"equ" pushes for balance
against the pressure of "nox",
whose mass bears 
winter's weighted threat.

However we may read the word “equinox”, it spells “change“. Trees put away their lithesome summer greens, like sleeveless tops folded on September’s shelf. Slowly, they wrap themselves within autumn’s deep gold and umber sweaters, trimmed in warm magenta.

We too return to the enterprise of warmth, of fueling fires, of lighting lamps. What nature gave, and we heedlessly received in bright July, is spent. Some chilled memory of solstice motivates us to prepare.

Our hearts too, in synch or out with seasons, cycle through such changes. This inner rhythm of need and abundance is the music through which the Holy Spirit shapes our understanding of God. As in all graceful dances, there must be a yielding. There must be abandon to the mystery into which each passing step dissolves.

God hums the infinite song in our souls, if we will listen. It is deeper than any single note of joy or sorrow. It is the fluid under-beat of Love which recreates and sustains us in every shifting moment of our lives. We belong to it as the waves belong to the Sea, as the leaves belong to the Seasons.

In Philadelphia, it is a glorious day – a perfect vestibule to a season of amazing beauty.  Nature prepares to shed the showy accretions of summer in a multi-colored ritual of leave-taking. It is time to return to the essentials – back to the branch, back to the buried root, back to the bare, sturdy reality that will anchor us in the coming winter.

On each of the coming days, some new layer of green will ignite in a blaze of scarlet or gold then turn out its light for a long winter’s sleep. Nature knows when things are finished.  It knows when it has had enough.  It knows its need for a season of emptying, for a clearing of the clutter, for the deep hibernation of its spirit.

But we humans often ignore the need for an “autumning” of our spirits.  We try to live every moment in the high energy of summer – producing, moving, anticipating, and stuffing our lives with abundance.  

But simplicity, solitude and clarity are necessary for our spirit to renew itself.  Autumn is the perfect time to prayerfully examine the harvest of our lives – reaping the essentials and sifting out the superfluous. In the quiet shade of a crimson maple tree, we may discover what we truly love, deeply believe and really need to be fully happy.

Take time on these crystal days to ask yourself what is really essential in your life.  Nurture those things with attention and care.  Don’t take them for granted.  After the flare of the summer has passed, these are the things that will sustain you: a strong faith, a faithful love and a loving compassion. Tend them in this season of harvest.

Music: Autumn from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi