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.

The Gift of Years

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Love, Prayer, spirituality3 Comments

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100718.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we read how Job’s elder years were blessed with peace and prosperity. We want this serenity and peace for all of our dear elders. They have traveled the road ahead of us, often showing us the way.

Job42_12

Today, I have the joy of celebrating, with my dearest friend, her 90th birthday. What a gift those years have been to her and all who love her! By her simple, steady faith and her inclusive, unconditional love of others, she has allowed God’s Mercy to shine in her. Those who gather to celebrate her today cherish her and will surround her with their appreciation.

All of our beloved elders need and deserve this kind of love and respect from us. Tell your parents, grandparents and older friends what a blessing they are to you. Let them know they have shone a light on your path.

When Job sat with his children in the midst of his latter riches, he had found a deep friendship with God through all the challenges of his life. His household had been blessed with the same friendship by learning from Job’s ardent faith.

May we never take for granted what we have been given by the ones who go before us, on whose shoulders we stand.

Music: A favorite hymn of my 90-year old friend: To God Be the Glory – André Crouch

Regrets?

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

Friday, October 5, 2018

 Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100518.cfm

Today, in Mercy,  Jesus castigates  the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and even his beloved Capernaum for their lack of faith.

In these Galilean villages, nearby to his own hometown, Jesus has performed many of his miracles and cures. These people have been the audience for his most memorable sermons. But now, Jesus begins to meet resistance and doubt as his disciples assume greater participation in his ministry. 

Lk10_13 Chorazin

Jesus is preparing for the time when he will no longer be here. He wants to see strong faith in his followers, but he is disappointed. He tells the crowds that they will regret their hard-heartedness, their slowness of conversion. They will be more harshly judged because they failed to respond to more abundant graces.

This passage is filled with spiritual lessons. We, too, have received so many blessings from God. How have we responded? 

It is a sad thing to look back on any part of our lives with regret – to say, “I wish I had…” or “I wish I hadn’t”. The only benefit of such sadness is to learn a lesson for our future.

Let’s pray today to live ever more intentional lives – giving ourselves time to recognize and respond to our blessings, to the needs of others, and to the deepening call of faith within our spirits.

May this prayer help us turn our spirits from any crippling self-interest and lukewarm faith to a dynamic, life-giving spirituality. As our responsorial psalm today encourages us: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Music: I Can Hear Your Voice ~ Michael W. Smith

We Shall Behold Him

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

Thursday, October 4, 2018

                    Reading:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100418.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a man who through his deep understanding and love of poverty, worshipped God in all Creation.

we shall behold hinm

In many ways, our reading from Job echoes what we know of Francis. Francis, by choice, and Job, by circumstance, are left with nothing. Each one  experiences that emptiness as an open pathway to God.

Poverty of spirit is that freedom from dependencies, material and otherwise, which could block us from full relationship with God. The parable of Job shows us a man who possessed such poverty in the extreme experiences of his life.

Francis of Assisi’s story is not a parable. He was real, like you and me. His passionate desire for God burned with the intensity of this verse from Job:

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him,
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing.

We, too, good friends, shall someday behold Him. May the great holiness of Francis inspire us to unblock our hearts to recognize and adore God, even in this life of challenges and blessings.

Music: We Shall Behold Him – The Woodlands Church UMC Choir

Former American Idol finalist LaKisha Jones sings the solo during an Easter Morning anthem.

Savor the exultant words first. I especially love the lines: 

The sweet light in His eyes, shall enhance those awaiting
And we shall behold him, then face to face

We Shall Behold Him
The sky shall unfold
Preparing His entrance
The stars shall applaud Him
With thunders of praise
The sweet light in His eyes, shall enhance those awaiting
And we shall behold Him, then face to face
O we shall behold Him, we shall behold Him
Face to face in all of His glory
O we shall behold Him, yes we shall behold Him
Face to face, our Savior and Lord
The angel will sound, the shout of His coming
And the sleeping shall rise, from their slumbering place
And those remaining, shall be changed in a moment
And we shall behold him, then face to face
We shall behold Him, o yes we shall behold Him
Face to face in all of His glory
We shall behold Him, face to face
Our Savior and Lord
We shall behold Him, our Savior and Lord
Savior and Lord!

Where Were You?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, holiness, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday. October 3, 2018

                        Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100318.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Job proves his faith in God. His tremendous troubles will not shake him from his deep loyalty to an awesome God.

As well as remaining steadfast, Job uses his circumstances to deliver both a stirring, poetic description of an Omnipotent Creator, and an personal testament to an intimate Companion.

Job9_11

Reading slowly through this beautiful passage, let’s open our imaginations to see the Mountain Mover, the Sun Commander, the Ocean Walker the Star Designer Who is Job’s God.

If our prayer is caught in some old, small image of God, this passage encourages us to reach for the awesome Presence of the God Who loves us – and to trust that Love with the utter simplicity like Job’s.

Music: Where Were You – Mars Hill Music

Why?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Prayer, spirituality, suffering2 Comments

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

                  Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100218.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Wow! Job is as distraught as anybody I’ve ever seen! He is sorry he was ever born, that’s how terrible his circumstances are.

Job Why

Hopefully, none of us has ever been at such a “Job Point”. But we’ve had our own small brinks where we’ve stood and yelled into the silence, “Why?”  

  1. Why me? 
  2. Why my family? 
  3. Why someone so good? 
  4. Why now? 
  5. Why like this?

All these “whys” are fragments of the essential question of the Book of Job:
                          How can a good God allow evil to exist?
The question even has its own name: theodicy – defined as the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil.

Philosophers and theologians have proposed an array of explanations. But these fall short of satisfying us when we are the ones at the brink.

When we try to balance the concepts of evil with God’s goodness, we are wrestling with a mystery, not a problem. Problems, like unsolved math equations, have answers – even though we may not have found them yet.

Mysteries do not have finite answers. Sacred mysteries engage our faith to grow deeper in relationship with God, Who shares our life and suffering beyond our human understanding. 

On this Feast of the Guardian Angels, whom we ask to be at our side through good and evil, we pray for ever-deepening faith that all will be made whole for Creation in the Infinity of God.

Music: Untouchable ~ Mars Lasar

The Little Way to Holiness

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, spirituality4 Comments

Monday, October 1, 2018

                 Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100118.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we begin a week of readings from the Book of Job, a poetic masterpiece and theological treasure. These readings from Job always occur during the 26th week of the Liturgical Year. 

It is so fitting that they should begin this year on the feast Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun – popularly known as “The Little Flower”. Thérèse, like Job, experienced much suffering in her life. 

little flower

Some came from external circumstances, such as her mother’s death when Thérèse was only four years old, as well as Thérèse’s own tuberculosis and early death,

But much of Thérèse’s suffering came from within. She possessed a soul of remarkable religious sensitivity to the point of scrupulosity. She struggled with this for much of her early life until a spiritual breakthrough brought her peace. 

Thérèse called this experience a “complete conversion” through which she “felt, in a word, charity enter my heart, the need to forget myself to make others happy—Since this blessed night I was not defeated in any battle, but instead I went from victory to victory and began, so to speak, “to run a giant’s course” (Psalms 19:5).”

This turning from self toward the needs of others is the basis for the truly Christian life. In each life, the call to make this turn comes in different forms. Thérèse calls her approach “The Little Way”. Inspired by a passage from Proverbs, she reimagined her journey to holiness: “Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me” (9:4)

Thérèse wrote:
“Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are beyond me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.”

The spirituality of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus has inspired many, thus this simple childlike woman has been declared a Doctor of the Church and a Saint.

Music: Art for God – Sr. Marie-Anastasia Communauté des Béatitudes

In this video, sung in French, you will hear and see some of Thérèse’s words. The painting represents her desire to find a “little way” to God.

Jealous for My Sake?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, Eternal Life2 Comments

Sunday, September 30, 2018

                       Readings:  Click here.

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

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.

Number 11_29 Jealous for my sake

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, age over youth, 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.

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

Remember Your Angels

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, inclusivity, Love, Mercy, spirituality6 Comments

Saturday, September 29, 2018
Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092918.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

Ps 138_Angel

I have always had a special love for St. Michael, having grown up in a parish named for him. Like many people, I was fascinated by the concept of angels – dynamic, immortal beings who provided hidden protection to my young soul. Although popular culture minimizes angels into fat little Valentine cherubs, the idea of a strong, noble supernatural sibling has remained with me throughout life. 

And although tradition has designated these angels with beautiful male names, angels are without gender. They could just as easily be imagined as mighty, glorious Sisters safeguarding us for God.

Praying with the angels can teach us more about their nature, and more about our own. Each of us, creatures of The Eternal One, reflect particular aspects of God’s nature. Just as children might resemble one of their parents, we humans and angels look like God. 

We humans, with all natural Creation, reflect God’s mercy, love, inclusivity.

Angels mirror God’s power, transcendence and glory. They exist in the perfection of adoration and service to God. They invite us to that same perfection when our earthly journey ends.

What a blessing and help for us to live more consciously in the presence of these invisible beings who desire and foster our good! What a spiritual support to realize that the communion of angels and saints perpetually and lovingly surrounds us!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:

From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by the angels’ watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading that person to life. Here on earth the Christian life already shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and saints united in God.

Perhaps today, we might pray to know these holy companions a little better, and to gratefully allow them to bolster our spirits for the day’s journey.

Music: The Hymn of the Cherubim of the Byzantine Liturgy is one of the most beautiful hymns of all the Catholic Liturgies. The hymn was added to the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by the Emperor Justinian. The lyrics are:     

We, who mystically represent the Cherubim,
And chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity,
Let us set aside the cares of life
That we may receive the King of all,
Who comes invisibly escorted by the Divine Hosts.

The Illusion of Time

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Hope, Love, spiritualityLeave a comment

Friday, September 28, 2018

                      Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092818.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we read about time, that elusive framework that binds our days.  We are so conscious of time, still it defies all our efforts to define or control it. It lumbers when we want it to skip. It flies when we long for it to tarry. Once it has passed, we wonder where it went. We find the long, vibrant years compressed to a distant, gossamer memory.

Eces3_1 time

Time can create in us a sense of urgency, a deadline for us to make a mark on its surface. But Ecclesiastes counsels us to be patient, telling us there is a time for everything – a segment in our life story for us to plumb each emotion. 

As we read through his antiphonal list of life’s realities, we are conscious of the ones we would rather eliminate – the down side of experience. But the scribe suggests that even life’s shadowed side serves to hone us for eternity. 

Faith allows us to stand in balanced trust on the crossbeam of our shifting lives. Hope causes us to expect light out of every darkness. Love convinces us that our timeless God abides with us beyond time’s testing.

In our Gospel, Jesus is conscious that he is coming to the end of his time. As many of us do when we are feeling unsure of ourselves, Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him. They respond in glowing accolades – Elijah, the Baptist returned from the dead, the Christ, Son of God. But Jesus knows it is not a time for accolades. He rebukes them with a somber forecast of darkening times.

Even Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, experienced time’s shifting waves. Praying the Gospel daily, living with Jesus through his highs and lows, is the steady fulcrum in our own uneven seas.

Music: In His Time ~ CRC Worship

What Is, Is.

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, dying, Faith, joy, spirituality3 Comments

Thursday, September 27, 2018

          Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092718.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we meet the first of a few readings from Ecclesiastes, written by an author who calls himself Qoheleth – Teacher. The book contains many loved and oft-repeated phrases that we might recognize:

  • There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven
  • He has made everything beautiful in its time.

And today’s kick-off thought:

  • Vanity of vanities ….  All is vanity.

Reading Ecclesiastes places us in the presence of a writer who is a realist at best, and a cynic at worst. Parts of the book can be downright depressing; other parts, elegant in their spare beauty.

We can finish a passage like today’s and hear echoes around us of Star Trek’s Borg mantra: 

Resistance is futile. 

Qoheleth says as much:

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

The phrase carries at least a little tinge of hopelessness. But I think a lot depends on the way we read it.

Realizing that “things are the way they are” can give us a sense of stability and trust. It can release us from struggling needlessly against realities that will not be moved. It can encourage us to find within these “immovables” the hidden path to a new grace. It can remind us that others have endured; so can we.

What is is

One of our Wisdom Sisters taught us that by naming and accepting our reality, we can move from fighting it into growing from it. She always said, “What is, is” – implying “now deal with it”.

It sounds spartan, but it actually can be very freeing. We can’t change so many things – the weather, the tides, the hearts of others. The years will pass, friendships blossom and fade. We will get old, if we are blessed with that gift. We’ll lose our jump shot and probably some of our hair – maybe a few others things too.🤗

But God will always love us, abide with us and cherish us for eternity.

Music: In Every Age – Janét Sullivan Whitaker