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.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. Matthew 19:29-30
Today’s Gospel builds on yesterday’s theme: what is it that we have to give up to inherit eternal life? We might interpret this Gospel passage to mean that we have to give up everything to achieve perfection – “houses, brothers, sisters…”.
But I think it means not so much what we have to give up as what we need to acquire. We need to acquire that absolute thirst for God that allows us, when necessary, to put everything else aside.
Thought:
“A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Matthew 19:21-22
All of us who pray the Gospel have probably, at one time or another, put ourselves in the place of this young man. We don’t want to “go away sad” from the invitation of Jesus. We’re good people who want to be even better. What is that final gift that we must give to God to become the full person God created us to be?
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We listen to God speaking in our lives. There is always a call to greater intimacy with God through our living out of the Gospel. May we have the grace and courage to hear this infinite call.
Poetry: The Call of the Far – Rabindranath Tagore
Ever I am restless I am athirst for the far. My time passes by And in an absent mind I keep waiting at my window Hoping and hoping you will come. O how my entire being Is eager for your intimate touch! O you far, O you boundless far So irresistible is the call of your flute But I forget I have no wings I am bound to one place. I am listless, I am indifferent. At the sun-tinged lazy midday Among the rustling of the trees In the play of light and shade In the blue of the sky I get a glimpse of your fugitive form. O you far, O you boundless far So irresistible is the call of your flute But I forget my doors are barred.
Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” Proverbs 9:1-6
Proverbs offers us the beautiful image of Divine Wisdom setting a table of grace for our nourishment.
In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is the divine nourishment foretold in Proverbs. Some resist Jesus’s invitation. Their faith languishes even while there is sacred food before them.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We give thanks for the Bread of Life given to us in Eucharist, Gospel, Creation, community, and merciful action. We ask for the grace to see God’s nourishing Presence right before us in our daily lives.
Poetry: I Am the Bread of Life – Malcolm Guite
Where to get bread? An ever-pressing question That trembles on the lips of anxious mothers, Bread for their families, bread for all these others; A whole world on the margin of exhaustion. And where that hunger has been satisfied Where to get bread? The question still returns In our abundance something starves and yearns We crave fulfillment, crave and are denied.
And then comes One who speaks into our needs Who opens out the secret hopes we cherish Whose presence calls our hidden hearts to flourish Whose words unfold in us like living seeds Come to me, broken, hungry, incomplete, I Am the Bread of Life, break Me and eat.
A clean heart create for me, O God; and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me. Psalm 51:12-14
Today’s familiar and beloved Responsorial Psalm repeats yesterday’s heartfelt plea for spiritual innocence.
Jesus blesses such innocence in our Gospel by saying:
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray for that deep trust in God which yields spiritual innocence. Such innocence is not naïve or childish. Rather it has discovered the profound wisdom that gives everything to God.
Poetry: Mary Oliver from House of Light
Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled — to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing — that the light is everything — that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and falling. And I do.
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
Matthew 19:3
The Pharisees miss the whole point of the Presence of Jesus. Think of it: here they have the Messiah they have longed for right in their midst. They can talk to him, touch him, listen to him. Instead, they are strangled in rationalizations which prevent them from believing.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We ask for a clear and innocent faith, one not caught in the need for proofs and signs. May we hold nothing back from God in our practice of faith.
Poetry: Two Went Up Into the Temple to Pray– Richard Crashaw
Two went to pray? O rather say One went to brag, th’ other to pray:
One stands up close and treads on high, Where th’ other dares not send his eye.
One nearer to God’s altar trod, The other to the altar’s God.
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Corinthians 15:20
We celebrate Mary because of who she is in Christ, the firstfruits of a new and redeemed Creation. Mary is the one who bore these sacred firstfruits. Mothering Christ, she mothers too the gift of our Redemption.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We honor Mary whose simple life was translucent with faith. From that light, God took flesh and so redeemed us.
Poetry: The Assumption – Joachim Smet O.Carm
No painter ever caught the magic other going-- This was a matter of an inward growing, Simple and imperceptible as thought. It was no pageant wrought Of sounding splendor, welter of gold bars Of molten day, mad stars, Flurry of quick angels' winging, Bursts of their laughter ringing In wild bliss. The simple fact is this: Love conquered at long last. Her eager soul fled fast With a great gladness like a song Unto to her Spouse above, And her pure flesh would not be parted long For sheer love.
Music: Assumpta Est Maria
Latin Text
Assumpta est Maria in caelum, gaudent angeli, laudantes benedicunt Dominum. Gaudete et exsultate omnes recti corde. Quia hodie Maria virgo cum Christo regnat in aeternum.
Quae est ista, quae progreditur quasi aurora consurgens, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata? Gaudete et exsultate omnes recti corde. Quia hodie Maria virgo cum Christo regnat in aeternum.
ENGLSIH TEXT Mary has been received into Heaven: the angels rejoice with praises and bless the Lord. Let all rejoice and be glad with righteous heart, for today the Virgin Mary reigns with Christ for evermore.
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array ? Let all rejoice and be glad with righteous heart, for today the Virgin Mary reigns with Christ for evermore.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20
Today’s Gospel speaks to the power of community and the responsibility of being a member. Being gathered in the Name of Christ means being gathered in love where each one seeks the good of all others.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We realize that community is itself a ministry and sacrament exercised by a group of people who choose to love God by loving and supporting one another for mission. Whether that be in a family, a religious community, a workplace, a local or universal Church, we owe one another honesty, respect, encouragement, hospitality, and compassion. These gifts release each one of us to minister in love to a broken world.
Poetry: The Things that Count – Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
Now, dear, it isn’t the bold things, Great deeds of valour and might, That count the most in the summing up of life at the end of the day. But it is the doing of old things, Small acts that are just and right; And doing them over and over again, no matter what others say; In smiling at fate, when you want to cry, and in keeping at work when you want to play— Dear, those are the things that count.
And, dear, it isn’t the new ways Where the wonder-seekers crowd That lead us into the land of content, or help us to find our own. But it is keeping to true ways, Though the music is not so loud, And there may be many a shadowed spot where we journey along alone; In flinging a prayer at the face of fear, and in changing into a song a groan— Dear, these are the things that count.
My dear, it isn’t the loud part Of creeds that are pleasing to God, Not the chant of a prayer, or the hum of a hymn, or a jubilant shout or song. But it is the beautiful proud part Of walking with feet faith-shod; And in loving, loving, loving through all, no matter how things go wrong; In trusting ever, though dark the day, and in keeping your hope when the way seems long— Dear, these are the things that count.
The Lord God said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. Ezekiel 3:1-3
The scroll represents the Word of God which we are all called to embrace by the faithful living of our lives. We cannot fully do so with only our mind and its analysis. When we do only that, the Word seems difficult and vexing.
Rather, we must consume the Word making it part of ourselves. It must become the sustenance without which we cannot live. When we do that, the Word becomes sweet and longed for.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We ask for a deep longing for God’s Word and the courage to fully embrace it by our faithful lives.
Poetry: Immersion – Denise Levertov
There is anger abroad in the world, a numb thunder, because of God’s silence. But how naïve, to keep wanting words we could speak ourselves, English, Urdu, Tagalog, the French of Tours, the French of Haiti… Yes, that was one way omnipotence chose to address us—Hebrew, Aramaic, or whatever the patriarchs chose in their turn to call what they heard. Moses demanded the word, spoken and written. But perfect freedom assured other ways of speech. God is surely patiently trying to immerse us in a different language, events of grace, horrifying scrolls of history and the unearned retrieval of blessings lost for ever, the poor grass returning after drought, timid, persistent. God’s abstention is only from human dialects. The holy voice utters its woe and glory in myriad musics, in signs and portents. Our own words are for us to speak, a way to ask and to answer.
When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.” Matthew 17:25-27
Can you see Peter shaking the little fish until the coin popped out in his hand? Can you see his astounded face at this magical miracle? As we picture the scene, we may realize that there are miracles hidden in all Creation, in all experience if we can trust and seek the truth.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: Jesus wants to teach us too, just as he taught Peter and encouraged his faith. We need to look around our lives and to seek the hidden miracles in our daily experience. Jesus may smile at our grateful astonishment, just as he smiled at Peter.
Poetry: The Temple Tax – William Merriman
I have the taste of money in my mouth. The metallic tang covers my tongue, As my throat unslackens and unlooses Prayers, praises, verses, songs With one hand raised to the altar, And the other in my pocket.
You who drew the fish from the water And withdrew the coins of copper From its consuming, biting teeth To pay the price of entry— Kill this mammon greed, And, instead, Lord, enter me.
Music: some lovely music as you think about spiritual “fishing”
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2
You are hungry. It is a cold, grey, and rainy day. You walk into your gently lit home needing rest and nourishment. Then, imagine the aroma of freshly baked bread, just lifted from the oven.
Jesus tells us that he is that Bread, given to feed the deep hungers of our soul, and the deep hungers of all Creation.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray for the graces we need to allow us a rich appreciation of Eucharist:
in our Church and its liturgies
in the world as we share life and ministry
in the reverence for all Creation which becomes complete by our completeness in Christ
Prose: from The Mass on the World – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Since once again, Lord — though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the steppes of Asia — I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world.
Over there, on the horizon, the sun has just touched with light the outermost fringe of the eastern sky. Once again, beneath this moving sheet of fire, the living surface of the earth wakes and trembles, and once again begins its fearful travail. I will place on my paten, O God, the harvest to be won by this renewal of labour. Into my chalice I shall pour all the sap which is to be pressed out this day from the earth’s fruits.
My paten and my chalice are the depths of a soul laid widely open to all the forces which in a moment will rise up from every corner of the earth and converge upon the Spirit. Grant me the remembrance and the mystic presence of all those whom the light is now awakening to the new day.
Music: Fresh Bread – Chuck Girard
Fresh bread, cool water, come and receive it Fresh bread, cool water, come and receive it Cease from your labors, come now and dine Fresh bread, cool water, come get the oil and wine
In every life there comes a time to dance In every life there comes a time to be still Sometimes you’re given’ out until there’s nothin’ left Then there’s a time that comes to be refreshed and filled
Repeat chorus
Come get the oil of gladness, and the bread of life Come get the living water, be refreshed tonight Come get the fruit of joy, come on and dance in the dirt We’ll get the mud off your shoes and Have you back to the table in time for dessert
Repeat chorus
There’s a season of labor, then a day of rest There’s a time of trial, then you pass the test There’s a time when the wind blows, then a time of peace There’s a time when you have to fast, then a time, a time when you feast
CHORUS
Come get the living water Come get the bread of life Come get the oil of gladness Be refreshed tonight Cease from your labor, come now and dine Fresh bread, cool water, come get the oil and wine
Lavish Mercy 