Month: September 2024

Holy Cross

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, Faith, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
September 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091424.cfm

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:6-11

In this profoundly beautiful passage from Philippians, Paul captures the complete essence of the Paschal Mystery. Every phrase is rich in meaning inviting us to explore its depths in awe.

No poetry is offered today. Take the time to really rest in these words and the glorious Truth they reveal

Music: Jesus The Lord – Roc O’Connor – St. Louis Jesuits

Jesus. Jesus.
Let all creation bend the knee
to the Lord.
In him we live,
we move and have our being
In him the Christ, in him the king!
Jesus, the Lord.

Jesus. Jesus.
Let all creation bend the knee
to the Lord.
Though Son,
he did not cling to godliness
but emptied himself, became a slave!
Jesus, the Lord.

Jesus. Jesus.
Let all creation bend the knee
to the Lord.
He lived
obediently his Father’s will
accepting his death, death on a tree!
Jesus, the Lord.

Jesus. Jesus.
Let all creation bend the knee
to the Lord.

Run

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, repentance, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
September 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091324.cfm

Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race,
but only one wins the prize?
Run so as to win.
Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.
They do it to win a perishable crown,
but we an imperishable one.
Thus I do not run aimlessly;
I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.
No, I drive my body and train it,
for fear that, after having preached to others,
I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Both our readings touch the topic of spiritual self-awareness. Paul does not want to preach to others and end up “disqualified” himself because of any infidelity.

Jesus says, to achieve holiness, be as aware of your own splintered eyes as you are of your neighbor’s!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Examining one’s conscience is an ancient religious practice. Its purpose is not to create a checklist of behaviors that need improvement. It is a way of acutely recognizing God’s Presence in our lives and listening to God’s hopes for us. Sometimes we fail to respond to those hopes, and we need to run harder, as Paul did.

Poetry: When I Am Among the Trees – Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

Music: Running to the Light – Brandon Lake

You can have my yes with no exception
I’m laying down my rights to second guessing
You can have my yes
I’m giving you my fear of never knowing
Whatever’s coming next, I know You’ve got me
You can have my yes
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Running to thе light
I’m giving you my dreams and my ambitions
Your presencе is my prize and my provision
I’ll answer when You ask
Oh, who could come against if You are for me?
‘Cause even in the fire, I know You’ve got me
I’m giving You my yes again
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Running to the light
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
I’ll follow You
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Oh, I’m, oh
I’m running to the light, light
Running to the light

Even

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Service, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091224.cfm

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:31-36

“Even” can be a parsimonious word – as in “get even”, “even-steven”. In such phrases, “even” means we settle things without forgiveness or generosity. It means we get our due without considering the other’s need.

But Jesus says the Gospel heart is not about “evenness”. Rather it is weighted on the side of extravagant mercy, generosity, and forgiveness.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for the courage to model our relationships with others on God’s incredible kindness to us.

Quote: Wendell Berry from his reflection, “Loving my enemies and living simply”.
The entire reflection is available here:
https://www.openhorizons.org/loving-my-enemies-and-living-simply-wendell-berry-on-jesus-and-the-gospels.html

But to take the Gospels seriously, to assume that they say what they mean and mean what they say, is the beginning of troubles. Those would-be literalists who yet argue that the Bible is unerring and unquestionable have not dealt with its contradictions, which of course it does contain, and the Gospels are not exempt. Some of Jesus’ instructions are burdensome not because they involve contradiction, but merely because they are so demanding.

The proposition that love, forgiveness and peaceableness are the only neighborly relationships that are acceptable to God is difficult for us weak and violent humans, but it is plain enough for any literalist. We must either accept it as an absolute or absolutely reject it. The same for the proposition that we are not permitted to choose our neighbors ahead of time or to limit neighborhood, as is plain from the parable of the Samaritan.

The same for the requirement that we must be perfect, like God, which seems as outrageous as the Buddhist vow to “save all sentient beings,” and perhaps is meant to measure and instruct us in the same way. It is, to say the least, unambiguous.

Music: Love Your Enemies – Kyle Sigmon

Remembering

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, peace, Prayer, Service2 Comments

September 11, 2024

Every one of us remembers where we were on September 11, 2001. Like the elders among us who remember Pearl Harbor and the assassinations of MLK, JFK, and RFK, the current generation will always be marked by that infamous day.

Evil became visible that day. We saw its face in the terrorists. We saw its deadly scars on 2,819 innocent people and their loved ones. We have watched its echoes across two decades that have become more vigilant and less trusting.

Besides the victims in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, so much else died on September 11th. Innocence died; universal trust died; unconditional acceptance died. And with their loss, our national soul was put in jeopardy.

Healing
But within a few hours of the attacks, we saw the human spirit raise its head. Acts of tremendous courage, love, support, and generosity became the new face of September 11th. A dormant patriotism was unfurled in millions of flags across America. Who will ever forget how KIND we became to one another when faced with the reality of one another’s vulnerability.

Learning
And so, all indications to the contrary, we learn even from the darkest evil. Throughout history, good people have learned from bad things such as:
The Holocaust:
“In spite of everything, I still believe
that people are truly good at heart….
that this cruelty too will end…”
(Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp)

War:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense,
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and not clothed.”
(President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Five-star General
and Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, World War II.)

Institutionalized Slavery:
“I had reasoned this out in my mind,
there was one of two things I had a right to,
liberty or death;
if I could not have one,
I would have the other.”
(Harriet Tubman, formerly enslaved woman who led many others to freedom
by the Underground Railroad)

Choosing
What have we learned from September 11th and who will we choose to be due to our learning? All of us want a better world for ourselves and our children. We want less fear and more trust. We want less struggle and more peace. We want less tension and more freedom. What we want will never come to us unless we choose to live it into being.
A quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi puts it this way:
“You must choose to be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Leading such change requires great bravery. Gandhi also said this,
“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”

Acting
So, on this 23rd Commemoration of September 11th, let us be brave enough to change the world. Courage and kindness stand side by side because they both require self-sacrifice.
To commemorate the lives lost that day, we may choose to make one act of anonymous, unrewarded kindness. Do it to make the world kinder, to contribute to a legacy for the future, to send a message that evil never triumphs, and to remember the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001.

Some ideas that won’t cost you much (from helpothers.org)
• Tape the exact change for a soda to a vending machine
• Treat someone to a cup of their favorite coffee
• Pay the toll for the person behind you
• Leave a treat in the kitchen at work
• Write a note of appreciation to someone
• Smile from your heart at strangers.
• Greet others when you pass them.
• Offer to babysit for free for new parents so they can sleep or spend time with each other.
• Spend time with an elderly person.
• Buy flowers for someone in your office who’s having a rough time.
• Leave a good book at a bus stop.
• Instead of following normal tipping etiquette, leave a little extra.
• Be kind to someone who isn’t always kind to you.
• Cook a meal for someone who is sick, elderly, or just had a baby.
• Pay someone’s expired parking meter.
• Visit someone in hospice care.
• Let someone go in front of you in line while you’re doing your grocery shopping.
• If you experience great service, compliment the worker and tell their manager.
• Give sincere compliments whenever you can.
• If you see an elderly person having trouble pumping their gas at a gas station, offer to do it for them.
• Leave the coupons you didn’t use at the register for someone else.
• Spend time with people in nursing homes. More often than not, they are lonely.

Leap

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, joy, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 11, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091124.cfm

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of me.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. 
Luke 6:20-22

Maybe some of you also watch the TV game show “Wheel of Fortune”. Notice what happens when the contestant wins the final round. They leap for joy! Then their family and friends join them and they ALL leap for joy! And they keep leaping !!! They “leap” so much that Pat Sajak makes sure he gets out of the way!

Jesus wants his followers to know that, despite any sufferings in life, they too will leap for joy at the final round of life. Can you imagine the exultation!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
May we trust in Jesus’s promise, and anticipate that infinite joy by our steadfast faith, hope, and love!

Poetry: This and That – Mary Oliver

(Imagine God leaning over you with the kiss of a new morning
and you leaping up to that Love.)

In this early dancing of a new day—
dogs leaping on the beach,
dolphins leaping not far from shore—
someone is bending over me,
is kissing me slowly.

Music: Don Quixote Variation – Júlio Santos (American Ballet Theater)

Enjoy a little ballet leaping for your prayer.

Mountain

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, healing, holiness, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 10, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091024.cfm

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.
Luke 6:12-13

Jesus wants to have a real heart-to-heart with the Creator. He goes to the mountain – where he can lift his spirit above and away from distractions.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Our minds can become so cluttered and distracted, can’t they? They can throw tons of static into our conversation with God.

How and where can our hearts be lifted into the sacred ambience of silence? Where can we go, both spiritually and physically, to hear the Infinity beyond yet within us?

Poetry: Morning Mountain Prayer – Norbert Krapf

Morning mountain air
calls me to sit outside
and let it caress
my knees and calves.

Just after I settle
in a chair the sun rises
above a small divide
in the mountain

and warm light slants
onto this yellow paper
across which the black
ink of a German pen
walks leaving word tracks

that knew all along
that in the end
near the bottom
of this page

they would become
the thanksgiving prayer
I send to the universe.

Music: Gymnopédie No.1 – Erik Satie

Stretch

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Creation, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
September 9, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090924.cfm

But Jesus realized the Pharisee’s intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up and stand before us.”
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He did so and his hand was restored.
Luke 6:8-10

In this reading, Jesus invites the crippled man to stretch out his hand – to reach beyond himself for the healing grace God offers. Jesus is inviting the Pharisees, who suffer from a crippled faith, to reach out as well. Is Jesus inviting you to stretch?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
I have included a picture of my beloved statue of giraffes. When I pray with this carving, no words are necessary. The youngster is stretching up to receive grace, nourishment, and love. For me, it is an image of our stretching up to God and God’s tender leaning toward us.

Poetry: Movement by Denise Levertov

Towards not being 
anyone else’s center 
of gravity

A wanting 
to love: not 
an other, and fall, 
but feel within one 
a flexible steel 
upright, parallel
to the spine but 
longer, from which to stretch; 
one’s own 
grave springboard; the outlying spirit’s 
vertical trampoline.

Meditative Music:

Recompense

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Cross, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Hope, spirituality1 Comment

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 8, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090824.cfm

Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools, 
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Isaiah 35:4-7

Isaiah’s prophecy foretells the time when God will turn the world upside down. It will be time of vindication for all those who have suffered. In God’s realm, even nature will be blessed by the recompense of salvation – by what they earned by their faithfulness.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We look to the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus – to guide us so that we may foster this recompense for all people and in our own time. Those tied only to material values do not understand the infinite hope of a world turned upside-down by Jesus.

Poetry: Ain’t I A Woman – Sojourner Truth

A formerly enslaved person, Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the nineteenth century. In this poem she gives us an insight into her view of the world turned “upside-down”.

That man over there say
a woman needs to be helped into carriages
and lifted over ditches
and to have the best place everywhere.
Nobody ever helped me into carriages
or over mud puddles
or gives me a best place…
And ain’t I a woman?
Look at me
Look at my arm!
I have plowed and planted
and gathered into barns
and no man could head me…

And ain’t I a woman?
I could work as much
and eat as much as a man —
when I could get to it —
and bear the lash as well
and ain’t I a woman?

I have born 13 children
and seen most all sold into slavery
and when I cried out a mother’s grief
none but Jesus heard me…

And ain’t I a woman?
that little man in black there say
a woman can’t have as much rights as a man
cause Christ wasn’t a woman
Where did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman!
Man had nothing to do with him!
If the first woman God ever made
was strong enough to turn the world
upside down, all alone
together women ought to be able to turn it
rightside up again.

Music: Upside Down – Jonny Diaz

Lord

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 7, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090724.cfm

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,
his disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.
Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?
How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,
which only the priests could lawfully eat,
ate of it, and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
Luke 6:1-5

A religion, like any other social construct, makes rules to define its character. The process can be as simple the “club” rules we made in elementary school (with the accompanying
“All Others Keep Out” sign.) Or it can be as complex as who qualifies, by their behavior, as a certified Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc.

But humanly constructed rules can be easily degraded when the purpose of their design is forgotten or ignored. This is what Jesus wanted his listeners to understand. He did not come to redefine the Old Law. He is Lord of the New Law whose definition is mercy and love not regulation.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
A sainted Mother Superior, in my young religious life, once offered me this insight: “The rules are for those who need them.”
Did she mean that religious rules should be ignored? Certainly not.
The maxim suggests that those who live the true spirit of the Gospel have no need of a list of rules to guide them.

Thought: from Joan Chittister, OSB

The spiritual life… is not achieved 
by denying one part of life 
for the sake of another. 
The spiritual life is achieved 
only by listening to all of life 
and learning to respond 
to each of its dimensions 
wholly and with integrity.

Music: Lord of the Sabbath – Keiko Ying

Patch

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy, spirituality1 Comment

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090624.cfm

And Jesus also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Luke 5:36

Jesus wants his disciples to understand that his Gospel invitation is to an entirely new way of thinking. The word Jesus preaches is one of Mercy not Law. To understand that dynamic change, his disciples must let go of the measurements of the Old Law. They are not sufficient to convey the infinite mercy and love of God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace of a clearer understanding – one that can release the need for measurements and judgements. May the overflowing love of God move our hearts to see the world with Mercy.

Poetry: But Not With Wine – Jessica Powers

O God of too much giving, 
whence is this inebriation that possesses me, 
that the staid road now wanders all amiss, 
and that the wind walks much too giddily, 
clutching a bush for balance, or a tree? 
How then can dignity and pride endure 
with such inordinate mirth upon the land, 
when steps and speech are somewhat insecure 
and the light heart is wholly out of hand? 

If there be indecorum in my songs, 
fasten the blame where rightly it belongs: 
on Him who offered me too many cups 
of His most potent goodness—not on me, 
a peasant who, because a King was host, 
drank out of courtesy.

Music: Wineskins – Cloverton

[Verse 1]
There is trouble up ahead
The water’s getting rough
And smoke is in the wind
There’s a fear that comes with the unknown
But clinging to the past
Will keep you where you don’t belong

[Chorus]
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?

[Verse 2]
Don’t try to cover up the holes
With patches that are fragile
And stitches that won’t hold
These patterns hold us in a line
We need an alteration
The old self must be left behind

[Chorus]
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?
New wine in the old wineskins
Something breaks when nothing bends
New wine in the old wineskins
We can’t stay so how’s this end?