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.

Neighbor

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
June 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060624.cfm

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31

In this Gospel passage, Jesus really puts the spiritual life in a nutshell: Love God and love neighbor.

It’s pretty self-evident that to achieve holiness one must love God. But loving the neighbor is a far different story. Depending on our views in life, we might have a hard time with the annoying, Democrat/Republican, irresponsible, refugee, gay, unemployed, or subsidiary-dependent neighbor. Who is our neighbor, really? Or more to the point, who isn’t?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s work to understand and embrace all persons, indeed all Creation, as neighbor. Doing so, what is required of us in response?

Thought: from Fred Rogers

“All we’re ever asked to do in this life is to treat our neighbor
—especially our neighbor who is in need—
exactly as we would hope to be treated ourselves. 
That’s our ultimate responsibility.”

Prayer: from Walter Brueggemann

On our own, we conclude:
there is not enough to go around

we are going to run short
of money
of love
of grades
of publications
of sex
of beer
of members
of years
of life

we should seize the day
seize our goods
seize our neighbours goods
because there is not enough to go around

and in the midst of our perceived deficit
you come
you come giving bread in the wilderness
you come giving children at the 11th hour
you come giving homes to exiles
you come giving futures to the shut down
you come giving easter joy to the dead
you come – fleshed in Jesus.

and we watch while
the blind receive their sight
the lame walk
the lepers are cleansed
the deaf hear
the dead are raised
the poor dance and sing

we watch
and we take food we did not grow and
life we did not invent and
future that is gift and gift and gift and
families and neighbours who sustain us
when we did not deserve it.

It dawns on us – late rather than soon-
that you “give food in due season
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

By your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity
override our presumed deficits
quiet our anxieties of lack
transform our perceptual field to see
the abundance………mercy upon mercy
blessing upon blessing.

Sink your generosity deep into our lives
that your muchness may expose our false lack
that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give
so that the world may be made Easter new,
without greedy lack, but only wonder,
without coercive need but only love,
without destructive greed but only praise
without aggression and invasiveness….
all things Easter new…..
all around us, toward us and
by us

all things Easter new.

Finish your creation, in wonder, love and praise. Amen.”

Music: Good Neighbor – Evan Craft

We may not look the same
Ya might talk different too
Got a long long list of differences
Between me and you
Different colors different stories
Even different politics
But He’s calling us now
To lay it all down
Get back to the heart of it
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
I’ve read the good book
Every word in black and red
But is my faith alive if I live my life
And I don’t do what it says
Love your God with all your heart and soul
Love your neighbor as yourself
And be Jesus to a broken world
That’s crying out for help
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
Yeah, we got a good God, oh
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
Make room at the table share
The hope that we got
‘Cause there’s room for everybody in
The family of God
The family of God
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
And show the world we got a good God
And show the world we got a good God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God

Stir

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality4 Comments

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
June 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060524.cfm

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
2 Timothy 1: 6-8

Paul has a deep affection and hope for Timothy. He sees the light of faith burning brightly in him. He encourages Timothy to not take his faith for granted but to ignite it fully by his unwavering commitment to live and preach the Gospel.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We thank God for the gift of our faith, for those who have encouraged its growth, and we ask for courage to stir up that gift by the witness of our lives.

Poetry: As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Gerard Manley Hopkins

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.Poetry:

Music: Fan into Flame – John Michael Talbot

I remind you now to fan into flame
The gift that God has bestowed
When my hands were laid upon you,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

The gift that God has given to us,
Is no cowardly spirit at all.
But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God.

So you, my son, you must be strong,
In the grace which is yours in Christ.
The teaching you have heard through me,
Hand onto the trustworthy ones.

The Spirit, God has given to us
Is no cowardly spirit at all.

But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

Unprincipled

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Prayer, spirituality, Truth2 Comments

Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
June 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060424.cfm

Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned,
be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled
and to fall from your own stability.
But grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 17-18

Peter tells his listeners that ” …we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.” But in the meantime, we must be alert for all that would distract us from Gospel truth and practice.

Peter’s world opposed the message of the Gospel. So does our world, filled now with unprincipled politics, economics, communication, and even “religious” propaganda. These forces fall against the believer like so many dominoes deconstructing the pattern of our faith.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Once again we ask for strength and insight to see the Gospel clearly and to stay aligned to its beauty and truth. This can be accomplished only by prayer, and developing a reverent familiarity with the Gospel. Further, reading reputable spiritual guides is important to enrich our understanding of the sacred word.

Poetry: Am I True to Myself? – Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as days go by,
always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand with the setting sun
and hate myself for the things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
a lot of secrets about myself

and fool myself as I come and go
into thinking no one else will ever know
the kind of person I really am,
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
but here in the struggle for fame and wealth
I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know that
I am bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself and so,
whatever happens I want to be
self respecting and conscience free.

Music: Keep Me Faithful – written by James Montgomery (1771-1854); adapted by Cornerstone Collective

Formula

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, holiness, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs
June 3, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060324.cfm

Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control,
self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,
devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
2 Peter 1:5-7

Is there a “formula” for holiness? Not a magic one, for sure. But Peter offers us, in logical sequence, some common elements that lead us deeper into God. As we pray with Peter’s advice, each element opens a whole chapter in self-examination and spiritual reorientation.

Poetry: Batter My Heart – John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Music: Holiness – Micah Stampley

Micah Stampley has a multi-octave vocal range spanning from bass-to-first soprano and is well known for that. His voice has literally staggering power and sensitivity. He has never had any formal vocal training. He says about his own voice: “It’s just a sound that God has given me, I think He just kind of fine tuned my vocal chords and gave me this high register. I can sing bass and/or soprano naturally. It’s pretty amazing and to be honest, I can’t explain it. It’s just something that happens whenever I feel the presence of God come over me. I sing at heights that I never thought any man would sing.
(Wikipedia)

Corpus Christi

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ 
Corpus Christi
June 2, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060224.cfm

While they were eating,
Jesus took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them, and said,
“Take it; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for you.
Mark 14: 22-24

Prose: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin – ‘The Priest’, in Writings in Time of War

Your life is so much stronger than ours
 that it dominates us, 
absorbs us, 
and assimilates us to itself…. 
Although I might have imagined 
that it was I 
who held the consecrated Bread 
and gave myself its nourishment, 
I now see with blinding clarity 
that it is the Bread 
that takes hold of me 
and draws me to itself.

Music: Ave Verum Corpus – attributed to Pope Innocent (13th century); set to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18th century); performed here by The Romanian Foundation for Excellence in Music

Ave verum corpus, natum
de Maria Virgine,
vere passum, immolatum
in cruce pro homine
cuius latus perforatum
fluxit aqua et sanguine:
esto nobis praegustatum
in mortis examine.

[O Iesu dulcis, O Iesu pie,
O Iesu, fili Mariae.
Miserere mei. Amen]

Hail, true Body, born
of the Virgin Mary,
having truly suffered, sacrificed
on the cross for mankind,
from whose pierced side
water and blood flowed:
Be for us a sweet foretaste
in the trial of death!

[O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus,
O Jesus, son of Mary,
have mercy on me. Amen.]

Build

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
June 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060124.cfm

Build yourselves up in your most holy faith;
pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
Jude 17: 20-21

Jude’s epistle indicates that we have responsibility to keep our faith strong. He also suggests that faith is an evolutionary process enriched by practice and reflection.

Today in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s take a look at how, by God’s grace, we have grown in our faith over the years. What circumstances have deepened us in our spiritual understanding? How have we refined our spiritual practices to ready ourselves for transformation? What curves in the road have tested us? What heights have blessed us? What depths have matured us?

Poetry: To Find God – Robert Herrick

Weigh me the fire; or canst thou find
A way to measure out the wind?
Distinguish all those floods that are
Mixed in that wat’ry theater,
And taste thou them as saltless there,
As in their channel first they were.
Tell me the people that do keep
Within the kingdoms of the deep;
Or fetch me back that cloud again,
Beshivered into seeds of rain.
Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and spears
Of corn, when summer shakes his ears;
Show me that world of stars, and whence
They noiseless spill their influence.
This if thou canst; then show me Him
That rides the glorious cherubim.

Music: Increase My Faith – Brian Courtney Wilson

See

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Eternal Life, Faith, healing, Hope, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
May 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/053024.cfm

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” 
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

Bartimaeus wants to be healed. He wants to see. But Jesus tells him that he is not healed by his desire, or his begging, or his good fortune in running into Jesus. Bartimaeus is healed by his faith because that faith draws forth from Jesus the Divine Power which transforms.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We can be blind in many ways.

  • Often we can’t see what’s right in front of us.
  • We can’t see why others may think differently from us
  • We can’t see the underlying reasons for our circumstances.
  • We can’t see the path to wholeness that may be obvious to others.
  • We can’t see the suffering world around us
  • We can’t see the invisible support that others give us, perhaps over our lifetime.
  • We can’t see the abiding presence of God in our lives

Like Bartimaeus may we call out to Jesus in faith so that he will be moved to help us SEE all that may bring us closer to the Divine Heart.

Poetry: Bartimaeus – John Newton

John Newton was an English Anglican clergyman, abolitionist, and hymn writer. He is best known as the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” one of the most beloved and widely sung hymns in the English language. Newton’s life was marked by a dramatic conversion experience, after which he abandoned his career in the slave trade and became an outspoken advocate for the abolition of slavery.

Mercy, O thou Son of David!
Thus blind Bartimaeus prayed;
Others by thy word are saved,
Now to me afford thine aid:
Many for his crying chid him,
But he called the louder still;
Till the gracious Saviour bid him
Come, and ask me what you will.
Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked, and Jesus granted
Alms, which none but he could give:
Lord remove this grievous blindness,
Let my eyes behold the day;
Strait he saw, and won by kindness,
Followed Jesus in the way.
O! methinks I hear him praising,
Publishing to all around;
Friends, is not my case amazing?
What a Saviour I have found:
O! that all the blind but knew him,
And would be advised by me!
Surely, would they hasten to him,
He would cause them all to see.

Music: The God Who Sees – Rachel Barrentine

Ambition

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Service, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
May 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052924.cfm

Then 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 chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”…

… You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
Mark 10: 35-38; 42-44

James and John are filled with the enthusiasm of their calling, but they are young in its understanding. They look past the challenge of their present circumstances to the glory on its other side. Jesus sets their ambition straight, as he does ours. First we must drink the cup that Jesus drank.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We too want our ultimate destination to be a place beside Christ. But to come to that place, we must follow Jesus closely in the choices of our own lives.

Poetry: Create in Me – Anna Beth Fore

Create in me a pure heart
filled with love, joy, and peace.
Calm these inner struggles
and give my soul release.

Renew my love and passion
for my Savior and my King.
Fill me with psalms and songs,
an offering to you I bring.

Cleanse me every day, Lord,
and make me pure and holy.
Comfort me with your Spirit
as he lives inside of me.

Transform me with your love,
your mercy, and your grace.
Strengthen me when I am weary
so that I can finish the race.

Welcome me with open arms
when my life on Earth is done.
Let the angels sing, “Hallelujah,”
when the battle on Earth is won.

Music: Are You Ready to Drink the Cup? – Cyprian Consiglio