Author: Renee Yann, RSM

Sister Renee Yann, RSM, D.Min, is a writer and speaker on topics of spirituality, mission, and ethical business practice. After twenty years in teaching and social justice ministry, she served for over thirty years in various mission-related roles in Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Cup

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality, sufferingLeave a comment

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102024.cfm

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 
He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” 
They answered him, “Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” 
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. 
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 
They said to him, “We can.” 
Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized –
Mark 10:35-39

In this familiar passage, Jesus calls James and John to a new level of discipleship. They may not have fully realized the implications of their enthusuastic request. Jesus makes it clear: there is no easy road to glory but he will accompany us throughout the journey.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ponder what God may be requiring of us to go deeper into our spiritual life. We are already spiritual people, but are there small things, unnoticed things, that would bring us more into alignment with the Gospel? Or, perhaps, are there big things that we must face and change in order to be true disciples?

Poetry: Hymn – Micah Mattis

“Great is thy faithfulness,” 
Say the leaves to the light. 
“Oh God, my father,” 
Says darkness to night. 

“There is no shadow,” 
Says the eye to the sun. 
“Of turning with thee,” 
As tears start to burn. 

“All I have needed,” 
Says the sand to the storm. 
“Thy hand has provided,” 
Say the combs to the swarm. 

“Great is thy faithfulness,” 
Says the cup to the brim. 
“Lord unto me,” 
Say I to him.

Music: Great Is Thy Faithfulness – Thomas Chisholm and William Runyan

Truth

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality, suffering, TruthLeave a comment

Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs
October 19, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101924.cfm

Hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and of your love for all the holy ones,
I do not cease giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power
for us who believe’
Ephesians 1:15-19

Paul’s grateful acknowledgement of the Ephesians could very well be bestowed on the North American martyrs whose lives we commemorate today. Their love of Jesus and the Gospel was unquencable even unto death. To read their stories, click this link:

Who are the North American Martyrs?

Poetry: Today’s Responsorial Psalm

The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord,
and you also will testify.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Music: Iroquois Dream Song

Disciple

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

Feast of Saint Luke, evangelist
October 18, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101824.cfm

Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter,
first say, ‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.”
Luke 10:3-9

Our first reading reveals a young Luke who, by his faithful accompaniment of Paul, is already dedicated to the spread of the Gospel.

Our Gospel defines those choices a true disciple must make in order to sustain such dedication: simplicity, selflessness, peace, practicality, mercy, faith.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask Jesus to strenghten the gift of discipleship in our hearts that we may be, in our times, what his followers were in his.

Prose: from “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

So long as Levi (Matthew) sits at the receipt of custom, and Peter at his nets, they could both pursue their trade honestly and dutifully, and they might both enjoy religious experiences, old and new. But if they want to believe in God, the only way is to follow his incarnate Son…Had Levi stayed at his post, Jesus might have been his present help in trouble, but not the Lord of his whole life.

It is only the call of Jesus which makes it a situation where faith is possible…a situation where faith is possible can never be demonstrated from the human side. Discipleship is not an offer we make to Christ. It is only the call which creates the situation.

Music: Brothers (from “The Mission”) – Ennio Morricone

Praise

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

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
October 17, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101724.cfm

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,
in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6

(The readings I used for today’s reflection are for the Mass for St. Ignatius of Antioch who lived in the century after Jesus. He is not the same person as Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, who lived in the 15th century.)

The passage from Ephesians, so beautifully expressed, encapsulates the character of a true disciple: called by God to holiness, expressing gratitude through a life of praise and mercy.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to receive God’s blessing and call with grateful hearts, and to live a life reflecting God’s Mercy.

Quote: from Ignatius of Antioch

We recognize a tree by its fruit, and we ought to be able to recognize a Christian by his action. The fruit of faith should be evident in our lives, for being a Christian is more than making sound professions of faith. It should reveal itself in practical and visible ways. Indeed it is better to keep quiet about our beliefs, and live them out, than to talk eloquently about what we believe, but fail to live by it.

Music: Ephesians Hymn – Suzanne Toolan, RSM

Woe

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, justice, Love, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 16, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101624.cfm

The Lord said:
“Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
Luke 11:42

Jesus got fed up with those who lived a loveless law. The Pharisees were meticulous in their outward observation of the Law of Moses, but they failed its core test to love their neighbor as themselves as written in Leviticus.

Thought:

The only love of God that has any substance
is the love of God enacted as love of neighbor.

Walter Brueggemann

Music: Love God, Love Your Neighbor – Dale Sechrest

Spirit

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Poetry, Prayer, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
October 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101524.cfm

The Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
Who intercedes for the holy ones
according to God’s will.
Romans 8:26-27

Our readings for the Feast of St. Teresa reflect the power which inspired her holy life. She lived deeply in the Spirit of God, sharing that infinite blessing with the world in her inspiring writings.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask St. Teresa to intercede for us in our desire to grow in holiness.

Poetry: If, Lord, Thy Love Is Strong – St. Teresa of Avila

If, Lord, Thy love for me is strong
As this which binds me unto thee,
What holds me from thee Lord so long,
What holds thee Lord so long from me?

O soul, what then desirest thou?
Lord I would see thee, who thus choose thee.
What fears can yet assail thee now?
All that I fear is but lose thee.

Love’s whole possession I entreat,
Lor make my soul thine own abode,
And I will build a nest so sweet
It may not be too poor for God.

A sould in God hidden from sin,
What more desires for thee remain,
Save but to love again,
And all on flame with love within,
Love on, and turn to love again.

Music: Adoro Te Devote – Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart

Jonah

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

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101424.cfm

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation….

At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation 
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Luke 11:29-30;32

In our Gospel, Jesus invokes the story of Jonah to encourage repentance in his listeners. Through Jonah’s second-effort, whale-prompted preaching, the Ninevites were awakened from their lack-luster faith. Jesus calls his followers to come out of the “whale’s belly”, so to speak – to repent and to live with a courageous faith.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Have you ever behaved like Jonah – hearing the call to live a deeper faith but swallowed instead in a cavern of indecision?

We pray for the grace to hear and to respond to the call to ever-deepening relationship with God.

Poetry: from Thomas Merton’s The Sign of Jonas:
In this passage, Merton imagines God speaking to Jonas, and to himself and us. Jonas is a sign of the Resurrection. We move from old life to new by the Mercy of God.

The Voice of God is heard in Paradise:

What was vile has become precious.
What is now precious was never vile.
I have always known the vile as precious:
for what is vile I know not at all.

What was cruel has become merciful.
What is now merciful was never cruel.
I have always overshadowed Jonas with My mercy,
and cruelty I know not at all.

Have you had sight of Me, Jonas, My child?
Mercy within mercy within mercy.
I have forgiven the universe without end,
because I have never known sin.

What was poor has become infinite.
What is infinite was never poor.
I have always known poverty as infinite:
riches I love not at all.

Prisons within prisons within prisons.
Do not lay up for yourselves ecstasies upon earth,
where time and space corrupt,
where the minutes break in and steal.

No more lay hold on time, Jonas, My son,
lest the rivers bear you away.
What was fragile
has become powerful.

I loved what was most frail.
I looked upon what was nothing.
I touched what was without substance,
and within what was not, I am.

Music: Jonah and the Whale – Louis Armstrong

Jonah was a man who got a word from the Lord
“Go and preach the Gospel to the sinful land”
But he got on a ship and he tried to get away
And he ran into a storm in the middle of the sea

Now the Lord, He made the waves just roll so high
The ship begin to sink and they all begin to cry
So they pulled ole Jonah out of the hole
And they jumped him in the water just to lighten up the load

Now the Lord made a whale, long and wide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
And he swallowed up Jonah, hair and hide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Now Jonah started to pray in the belly of the whale
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
He repented of his sins like a man in jail
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Now Jonah must o’ been a bad man, he must o’ been a sinner
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
‘Cos when the whale got him down, he didn’t like his dinner
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Wisdom

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Holy Spirit, spiritualityLeave a comment

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101324.cfm

 I prayed, and prudence was given me;
        I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
    I preferred her to scepter and throne,
    and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,
        nor did I liken any priceless gem to her;
    because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand,
        and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.
    Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,
    and I chose to have her rather than the light,
        because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.
    Yet all good things together came to me in her company,
        and countless riches at her hands.
Wisdom 7:7-11

This lyrical passage personifies Wisdom, carrier of the Presence of God. While often attributed to King Solomon, the book was written by an unknown but gifted poet.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We, too, pray for the gift of Wisdom, and reflect on the many times in our lives that she has accompanied us with the spirit of God.

Poetry: The Beginning of Wisdom – Denise Levertov

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:
and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

You have brought me so far.

I know so much. Names, verbs, images. My mind
overflows, a drawer that can’t close

Unscathed among the tortured. Ignorant parchment
uninscribed, light strokes only, where a scribe
tried out a pen.

I am so small, a speck of dust
moving across the huge world. The world
a speck of dust in the universe.

Are you holding
the universe? You hold
only my smallness. How do you grasp it,
how does it not
slip away?

I know so little.

You have brought me so far.

Music: Wisdom Song = Laura Woodley Osman

Faith

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Church, Community, Faith, inclusivity, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101224.cfm

For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26-28

The faith we share with other Christians makes us one in Christ. If someone has become “the other” for us, the integrity our faith is damaged in some way.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to truly be clothed in Christ – to so espouse his Gospel that we live in charity and reverence for all Creation.

Thought: from St. Augustine

O Sacrament of Love!
O sign of Unity!
O bond of Charity!
They who would have Life
find here indeed
a Life to live in
and a Life to live by.

Music: We Are One in the Spirit – Peter Scholtes

Thanks

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Hope, Mercy, Poetry, Psalms, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 11, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101124.cfm

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.

Psalm 111:1-2

Today’s Responsorial Psalm is a humble, beautiful prayer which places our heart in God’s awesome Presence. The passing events of this life, whether happy of sad, shrink in the realization of God’s generous Mercy.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We bring into God’s Presence our present circumstances, with their hopes, worries, regrets, and joys. We place them there, silence our hearts, and let the Mercy of God speak to us.

Poetry: The Garments of God – Jessica Powers

God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul.
He is God alone, supreme in His majesty.
I sit at His feet, a child in the dark beside Him;
my joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted
to nest on the thought that His face is turned from me.
He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments—
not velvet or silk and affable to the touch,
but fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch,
and I hold to it fast with the fingers of my will.
Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowal
to the Divinity that I am dust.
Here is the loud profession of my trust.
I need not go abroad
to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music
for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still.
I have this potent prayer through good or ill:
here in the dark I clutch the garments of God.

Music: Bach Cantata 156 – performed by Baroque oboist Leo Duarte