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.

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?

Deep

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

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090524.cfm

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them. 
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Luke 5:4-11

In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes his disciples “deep” – into his power, his vision, and his mission. He does it with a little Divine Magic on the ordinary Gennesaret fish. The fishermen are astonished enough to leave everything and follow him.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus takes the ordinary things of our lives too and, if we have faith, let’s us see the divine Power under the surface of our lives.

Thought: from Thomas Merton

You do not need to know
precisely what is happening
or exactly where it is going.
What you need is to recognize
the possibilities and challenges
offered by the present moment,
and to embrace them
with courage, faith and hope.

Thomas Merton

Music: Secret Ocean – Peter Kater

Tidings

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Gospel, Jesus, joy, justice, Mercy, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090424.cfm

The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.

Luke 4:18

In today’s Gospel, Jesus zealously launches his universal ministry. He has been rejected in his hometown of Nazareth and revered in Capernaum. Now he readies himself to break in a redeeming tide over all the nations. His ministry promises waves of joy to those who are poor and liberty to those held captive.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Christ’s ministry in our world has not changed. We are his agents called now to break over our suffering world in waves of mercy, justice, and joy.

Poetry: Tides – Mary Oliver

Every day the sea
blue gray green lavender
pulls away leaving the harbor’s
dark-cobbled undercoat

slick and rutted and worm-riddled, the gulls
walk there among old whalebones, the white
spines of fish blink from the strandy stew
as the hours tick over; and then

far out the faint, sheer
line turns, rustling over the slack,
the outer bars, over the green-furled flats, over
the clam beds, slippery logs,

barnacle-studded stones, dragging
the shining sheets forward, deepening,
pushing, wreathing together
wave and seaweed, their piled curvatures

spilling over themselves, lapping
blue gray green lavender, never
resting, not ever but fashioning shore,
continent, everything.

And here you may find me
on almost any morning
walking along the shore so
light-footed so casual.

Music: Tides of the Soul – Ty Burke

Holy Spirit

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
September 3, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090324.cfm

The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
1 Corinthians 2:10-13

When Jesus lived, God was present to us in the flesh. With Pentecost, God became present to us in the Spirit. But we who are bodily may be challenged to perceive the invisible Spirit. The Spirit becomes visible only in our works of mercy, justice, and love.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask that we may grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, and that we may allow God’s Omnipotent Power to work through us for the continued sanctification of the world.

Poetry: In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being – Denise Levertov

Birds afloat in air's current,
sacred breath? No, not breath of God,
it seems, but God
the air enveloping the whole
globe of being.
It's we who breathe, in, out, in, in the sacred,
leaves astir, our wings
rising, ruffled -- but only the saints
take flight. We cower
in cliff-crevice or edge out gingerly
on branches close to the nest. The wind
marks the passage of holy ones riding
that ocean of air. Slowly their wake
reaches us, rocks us.
But storms or still,
numb or poised in attention,
we inhale, exhale, inhale,
encompassed, encompassed.

Music: Hymn to the Holy Spirit – Nicholas Echeveria, OSA

Lyrics are taken from a prayer attributed to St. Augustine

Jesus Christ

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 2, 2024

today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090224.cfm

When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2

Paul gets it, and he wants to give it to his listeners. Jesus Christ is the First and the Last Word. When Paul was given the gift of faith, he embraced the whole mystery of Christ, Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Who is the Christ that I believe in? Only a God of personal prosperity and abundance? Or a God Who continues to take flesh, suffer, and rise in my life and the lives of my sisters and brothers?

Prose: from Henri Nouwen

Suffering invites us
to place our hurts in larger hands.
In Christ we see God suffering – for us.
And calling us to share in
God’s suffering love for a hurting world.
The small and even overpowering pains of our lives
are intimately connected with
the greater pains of Christ.
Our daily sorrows are anchored
in a greater sorrow
and therefore a larger hope.

Music: Gabriel’s Oboe – Ennio Morricone

Pure

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, Love, Mercy, spirituality1 Comment

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090124.cfm

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:21-22;27

In his epistle, James is reiterating some strong words from Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees are all whipped up about hand-washing. They have succumbed to the temptation to live a religion of appearances. Jesus basically tells them that no one ever gained eternal life by washing their hands.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus tells us, and so does James, how we stay clean and pure in God’s sight. Let’s take a look in the mirror to see how squeaky clean we look.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:
to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:21-22;27

Poetry: from Rumi

If you will be observant and vigilant,
you will see at every moment
the response to your action.

Be observant if you wouldst have a pure heart,
for something is born to you
in consequence of every action.

Music: Salvation – Michael Hoppé, Martin Tillman & Tim Wheater

Joy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
August 31, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083124.cfm

The one who had received five talents
came forward bringing the additional five.
He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done,
my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Matthew 25: 20-21

In this passage from Matthew, the “talents” are the currency that attains eternal joy. It is not so much about how many talents one has. Instead, it is about how one remains faithful in using them.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
The parable tells us that God exists in the Joy that flows from Infinite Generosity. When we invest our talents for the sake of others, we are invited to share in that Divine Joy.

Poetry: Sonnet on his Blindness by John Milton

With implied reference to the Parable of the Talents, Milton reflects on the loss of one talent – his sight which enabled him to write. His reflection acknowledges that God does not need any of our talents, but rather our faith which “only stands and waits”.

When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts, who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best, his state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.

Music: Ode to Joy – Ludwig von Beethoven

Foolish

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Cross, Faith, Forgiveness, Gospel, inclusivity, justice, Mercy, peace, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
August 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083024.cfm

Brothers and sisters:
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel,
and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,
so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Paul writes that the meaning of the Cross depends on who you are. If you believe, it manifests God’s Power. If you do not believe, it signifies foolishness.

The Gospel and the Cross turn the realities of the world upside down. For those who have falsely believed that power exists in egotism, legalism, division, aggression, vengeance, and greed, Paul says, “No!”. These are only signs that you are perishing.

The power of the Cross is manifested in mercy, justice, community, peace, forgiveness and generosity. This is the path to salvation.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the courage to trust the contradictory wisdom of the Gospel, and to live a life that reveals the “foolish” power of the Cross.

Poetry: Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross – Malcolm Guite

See, as they strip the robe from off his back
And spread his arms and nail them to the cross,
The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,
And love is firmly fastened on to loss.
But here, a pure change happens.
On this tree, loss becomes gain, death opens into birth.
Here wounding heals and fastening makes free, 

Earth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth. 
And here we see the length, the breadth, the height, 
Where love and hatred meet and love stays true, 
Where sin meets grace and darkness turns to light, 
We see what love can bear and be and do.
And here our Saviour calls us to his side, 
His love is free, his arms are open wide.

Music: The Power of the Cross – Stuart Townend