Category: Charity

Come Home to Faith, Hope, and Love

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Faith, Hope, Lent, Love, spirituality2 Comments

March 8, 2026
Third Sunday of Lent

The theological virtues are faith, hope, and love (charity).
These are considered supernatural gifts from God
that cannot be earned through human effort alone,
but are received at Baptism
and help guide a person’s moral life
by directing them toward God.

In our readings during this third week of Lent, we travel the distances between despair and hope, hard-heartedness and repentance, law and mercy. We enter the experience of Hosea as he longs for the return of grace, of the courageous woman at the well, of Peter as he matures in faith, of the Pharisee and tax collector at prayer. Again and again, we are offered the threads of repentance, mercy, and hope that knit us into God’s heart and eternal imagination for us.

During Philadelphia’s harsh winter, Joe lived on a steam grate in center city. George had met him there while volunteering with a homeless outreach program. Joe, articulate and engaging, was easy to befriend. Nevertheless, he was afraid to come in to the shelter.

One morning, on his way to a downtown meeting, George stopped to pick up coffee. He decided it would be nice to take a cup to Joe on his way. Sitting down on Joe’s grate, George offered him the steaming coffee. “Oh, thanks anyway, but I only drink tea,” Joe said. George burst out laughing at his noble mistake. “You didn’t think homeless people had choices, did you?” Joe countered. George, a good-hearted, generous man, learned a lesson that day about the human dignity often hidden under accretions of poverty, neglect and disenfranchisement.

Jesus made no such mistake when he met the woman at the well. Instead, he peeled through her accretions by respectful engagement and questioning. The woman, heartened by him, responded wholeheartedly.

This week, God invites us to strip away any pretense or fear keeping us from coming home to Mercy. The readings remind us to hear, observe, and teach the Divine Law. They encourage us to soften our hearts for God’s voice.

God knows our brokenness and hard-heartedness. Yet, God invites us to repent and to believe that we are not far from the kingdom. This week is a good time to seek God’s feedback on our lives by a sincere examination of conscience and a fearless request for healing. It is a perfect time to come home to Love.

Music: Hosea – Gregory Norbet

Suggested Scripture: Romans 5:1-8

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Love’s Balance

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Conversion, Courage, Creation, Faith, justice, Love, spirituality1 Comment

March 1, 2026
Second Sunday of Lent

What does it mean to hunger and thirst for justice? The Greek word translated here as “justice” is dikaiosune, a term that refers to personal righteousness as well as to social justice. Those who hunger and thirst for dikaiosune have a deep yearning for things to be right in their individual lives and in society. This will happen when God’s kingdom comes completely and creation is restored to God’s original intention.
~ from the website theologyofwork.org

In our readings during this second week of Lent, we are encouraged to let go of guilt, to “remember not the things of the past”. We hear the story of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, only to “redeem” them by his forgiveness. We are challenged to change the “season” of our hearts and embrace the full life of the Paschal Mystery. Our hunger for justice is truly the deep desire, not for any kind of reprisal, but for right balance in our lives with God and with all Creation, as seen in this story.

“Can you let this not be about you?” the chaplain asked, as Jane tried to explain her resistance and guilt. Evening darkened the small office just outside the tumultuous ER. There had been a building collapse, and Jane’s mother had been nearly crushed. Jane was the only relative, a long-alienated daughter. “But I’ve wanted to be reconciled”, she wept. “I just never had the courage to face her. Now it may be too late.”

Over several hours, the chaplain patiently encouraged Jane along a path of self-awareness, helping her realize that it was herself she needed to face. Her mother’s situation, while tragic, offered Jane a catalyst to confront the years of excuses and denials that had paralyzed her. Slowly, the hope of reconciliation washed over her.

When her mother finally stabilized, Jane leaned close to her battered face. Her mother summoned the strength to whisper, “I have never stopped loving you.” That forgiving whisper breathed a vital courage into both women. Each would survive a particular kind of death that day.

Despite our best hopes and intentions, life can collapse around us. Broken promises, unfulfilled dreams and soured relationships can litter our landscapes. We may even lose God in the rubble. This week, Isaiah offers us God’s forgiving invitation, “Come now, let us set things right”, says the Lord. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will become white as snow.”

God will never stop loving us. God longs to embrace our repentant hearts. Let us listen to and believe God’s whisper.

Music: Remember Not the Things of the Past – Bob Hurd

Suggested Reading: Psalm 33:4-22

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For your reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Eternal Birth

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Christmastide, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Christmas, 2025
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord. – Luke 2: 11

It was Christmas Eve, 1985 and we knew only his name, not his story.

Leon, just thirty-seven years old, was one of those rootless souls who, by life’s violent incisions, become severed from their history and their future. He had come to us from a local boarding home, comatose and dying. He came with no friend or family to attend his imminent passage. So, through the night of Christmas Eve, I sat silently with Leon, adamant that he should not die alone.

Leon had a quiet death. Very little changed in him except for stilled breathing and the relaxed mask that follows expiration. It was I who changed.

In that sterile hospital room, grey-lit with early morning, the palpable breath of God embraced me. I knew, and from that Christmas moment will always know, that all life beats within the Divine Heart; that every one of us is sacred and immortal within its mysterious rhythm.

Over these celebratory days, we will orchestrate a series of Christmas moments in our decorations, carols, gifts, and feasts. We will visit our treasured memories and revered mangers. We will be blessed by the love of family and friends who are the face of Christ to us.

May we also receive this singular grace: to know that any true Christmas moment comes only when the Spirit of Christ passes through us into the heart of another person.

To receive this grace, we may need to sit in a silent room with a dying stranger. We may need to welcome that ostracized family member who has carelessly injured us. We may need to rediscover, in our own quiet contrition, the radiant Gospel commitment that has paled in us.

Meister Eckhart, seven centuries ago, sought such a Christmas moment:

Today we celebrate the Eternal Birth
which God the Father has borne
and never ceases to bear in all eternity.
But if it takes not place in me, what avails it?
Everything lies in this, 
that it should take place in me.

A Blessed Christmas to you all, dear friends.

Music: Christmas Concerto – Corelli

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Reading: Wisdom 18:14-15

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Snowball Man

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Service, spiritualityLeave a comment
Summer Haze – Andrè Aguado

Friends invited me out to a swanky dinner one night. Every menu item was presented in an elegant and appetizing manner. One offering particularly struck me. To clear the palate, the upscale restaurant offered “shaved ice infused with delicate essence“.

Immediately, my mind returned to a hot summer street in 1950 or so. The relative cool of evening had begun to fall over the broiled city. Families sat out on their steps or lawn chairs to catch whatever breeze might pass through the tight city streets. From the distance, a bicycle bell announced the impending arrival of the “Snowball Man”. He pedaled through the neighborhoods on a crudely cobbled cart, his newly purchased ice block tracing the watermarks of his passage.

Both nickel and dime portions were offered, with complimentary choices of flavoring from the half-dozen bottles which framed the precious ice block. There was no refrigeration. Of necessity, he journeyed quickly and a dawdling kid would be passed over for the next certain one in line.

The Snowball Man carried a transitory treasure which, in time, melted quickly into only memory. Yet it is in that memory where his jingling existence is preserved in a sweet array of colorful flavors.

That night, sixty years later, in a noisy, overpriced restaurant, the memory reminded me that so much of life is fleeting and fragile. Like the vendor’s ice block, our chance to offer sweet refreshment to the world will quickly melt away. Catherine McAuley, the first Sister of Mercy, expressed it this way: “Do all you can for God’s people for time is short.”

Today, when many around you are thirsty and parched, how will you share and flavor the precious refreshment within you?

Music: Time in a Bottle – Jim Croce

As you listen to this beautiful song, think about going through time with God and God’s People.

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

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Glimpses of Glory

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, friendship, Mercy, spirituality1 Comment

May 18, 2025

Spiegel Im spiegel (Mirron in the Mirror)

Like many of our immigrant ancestors, my early family was rather poor. They and their neighbors labored to put food on the table and to keep the house warm. I remember one neighbor in particular from my very early childhood. Widowed young and unskilled, she struggled to raise three children in a two-room house. My mother saw her devastation. Financially strapped herself, Mom would “hire” Rae about four times a year to help her house clean – – this rather than embarrass her with a direct handout.

Rae quietly and gratefully acknowledged my mother’s secret strategy. We would be rewarded with a pot of Rae’s famous “Pepper Pot Soup”. This was a poor person’s soup, made from scraps the butcher might otherwise discard. But, through her generous mutuality, Rae transformed it into a gourmet meal. She grew the spices for cooking in a little plot behind her house. I savored their scent which has never been quite repeated in my life.

I haven’t tasted Rae’s soup in nearly seventy years, but I can still savor the divine dimension of my mother’s generosity and of Rae’s gratitude. These women left me a glimpse of glory – an insight into how God sees, loves, and responds – both to our unspoken needs and our deliberate generosities.

  • 1 pound honeycomb beef tripe
  • 5 slices bacon, diced
  • 3 medium leeks, chopped
  • 2 medium green bell peppers, diced
  • 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • ½ cup chopped celery
  • 2 quarts beef stock
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves (Optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 large bay leaf
  • 2 large carrots, diced
  • 1 large potato, peeled and diced
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Music: A Little a This and That – Pete Seeger (Lyrics below)

My grandma, she can make a soup,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
She can feed the whole sloop group,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
Stone soup! You know the story.
Stone soup! Who needs the glory?
But with grandma cooking, no need to worry.
Just a little a’ this ‘n’ that.

Grandma likes to make a garden grow,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
But she likes to have the ground just so,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
Not too loose and not too firm.
In the spring, the ground’s all got to be turned.
In the fall, lots of compost, to feed the worms,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.

Grandma knows we can build a future,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
And a few arguments never ever hurt ya,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
True, this world’s in a helluva fix,
And some say oil and water don’t mix.
But they don’t know a salad-maker’s tricks,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.

The world to come may be like a song,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
To make ev’rybody want to sing along,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.
A little dissonance ain’t no sin,
A little skylarking to give us all a grin.
Who knows but God’s got a plan for the people to win,
With a little a’ this ‘n’ that.

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8-16

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Holy Thursday’s Cup

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

April 17, 2025

Ubi Caritas – Taize Community

Life is change. Like a deep and vast ocean, life moves in waves and currents, never still even at its depths. It is the rhythmic flow of God, drawing all creation back and forth in its power. Yet, at the same time, life is constant. Its source is the eternal well of God which has neither beginning nor end.

These are the waters in which we swim. Whether theologian or kindergartner, each one of us lives this mystery every day of our lives. At times we move with great agility, dolphins dancing in the stream of grace. At other times, our stroke falters. We fall like shelled mollusks to the ocean floor, heavy with our imagined limitations.

This is what happened to twelve men on an April night in old Jerusalem. They had been swimming in the miracle of God’s Incarnation. They had even asked, just weeks before, to sit in eternal glory with Jesus. They wanted their current happiness never to change. They did not really absorb the challenge of Jesus’ counter-question: “Can you drink the cup that I will drink?”

But on this April night, this Holy Thursday, that promised cup was handed to them. The clear waters would turn to wine and the wine would turn to blood. The flow of days would sink now to the depths of their hearts. Could they abandon themselves to its tumultuous current? Could they trust so completely as to be buoyed by God alone? Could they accept the cost of such infinite freedom?

Every change in our lives offers us the same cup. The change may be as profound as death or as simple as a clock ticking. The invitation within each circumstance is the same: will you allow this moment to free you into God’s Heart?

Music: Adoro Te Devote – Gregorian Chant Academy

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Matthew 26:17-30

Scripture

Horizons

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Creation, Faith, healing, Seasons, spirituality2 Comments

March 17, 2025

Forest Dreams – Tim Janis

Spring is on the horizon! The long winter watch is almost over. But before we shake off its dark velvet wraps for good, it might be well to think about what winter teaches us.

The stretch of time between November and April is all about waiting. Bulbs wait under the frozen earth. Bears hibernate in the cold mountains. Birds migrate, their old nests empty until the spring. All creation seems to enter a time of patience and unrealized expectation. But it is not a time of desolation. It is a time of hope for things yet unseen.

Human beings also experience “winter” – not simply the seasonal one – but “winters of the spirit”. We all go through times when our nests have been emptied; times when all the beautiful flowering aspects of our lives seem dormant; times when our vigor and strength seem to hide in the cave of depression or sadness.

These “winters” take many forms. We may find ourselves sick of a job we had always loved. We may find a long, committed relationship wavering. We may find the burdens of age or economics overwhelming us. We may be the unwilling bearers of responsibilities we had not bargained for.

But if we listen, under the deep silence of any winter, the wind rustles. It carries the hint of a new season. It carries the hope of the renewing cycle of our lives. In that silence, we may be able to hear our heartbeat more clearly. We may come to a clearer understanding of what is most important in our lives. In the stillness, we may be forced to know and understand ourselves more deeply.

Others may reach out to us in their “winters”. They may be ill, experiencing confusion, or overwhelmed by the demands of their lives. They are asking for reassurance that some form of spring is coming. They yearn to feel the warmth and hope of renewed life. Our compassion for their needs will grow if we can remember our own winters. Surely, there has been a time when someone lifted the ice and blew warm breath over our fears, grief, or isolation. Someone held hope out to us to grab hold.

I think of a powerful image from the works of St. Teresa of Avila. She imagines God as a warm healer leaning over our frozen world, setting free the beauty of our spirits. This is what she says:

And God is always there,
if you feel wounded.
God kneels over this earth
like a divine medic,
and God’s love
thaws the holy in us.

Teresa of Avila

When we are compassionate and offer one another hope and light, we free what is sacred and do a holy work. Every time you touch another person’s life, you have the chance to change winter into spring. You have a chance to be like God.

Music: I Will Carry You – Sean Clive

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:11-13

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Loving a Whole God

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Creation, Faith, Love, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

February 14, 2025

As we may think about love this Valentine’s Day, I offer one of my poems on a different aspect of love.

Rusalka, Op. 114: “Song to the Moon” · Antonín Dvořák
One bitter day in February
I sat inside a sunlit room,
made warm love to You in prayer,
and she passed outside my window,
the unhoused woman, dressed 
uncarefully against the wind,
steadied on a cane, 
though she was young.

She seemed searching for
a comfort, unavailable and undefined.
The wound of that impossibility
fell over her the way it falls
on every tender thing that cries
but is not gathered to a caring breast.
Suddenly she was a single
anguished seed of You,
fallen into all created things.

Re-entering prayer,
I wear the thought of her
like old earth wears fresh rain.
I’ve misconstrued You,
Holy One, to whom
I open my heart
like a yearning field,
Holy One, already ripe within
her barest, leanest yearning.

Music: Teach Me to Love- Steve Green (Good song, but sorry for the non-inclusive language)

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 8:43-48

Click for Scripture

A Good Flannel Shirt

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, spirituality3 Comments

December 8, 2024

Photo by Chu Chup Hinh on Pexels.com
Winter Moon

Click the white arrowhead to the left above for some relaxing music while you read.
You may repeat click if you wish.

My mother, ever chilly even on warmer days, adored the word “flannel”. She loved to wrap her family in flannel – layettes, blankets, scarves and – above all – a good flannel shirt.  Dad, who worked outside often in harsh weather, had quite a flannel wardrobe in elegant muted plaids. On a wicked winter morning, seeing him off in such protective regalia gave Mom a measure of solace against her worry.   

Years later, when I ministered with people who had been left homeless, I remembered those shirts. Even as early as October, winter can make a brief, unexpected statement in our town. Someone living on the street can be caught off guard as an unannounced cold front sweeps in during the night. I began to carry an extra coat and some flannel shirts in the trunk of my car, distributing them to persons in need. Perhaps the shirts were scant shelter against a really cold bite – but they were, at least, something. 

In life, there are many ways to be caught isolated, cold and alone.  Despite all appearances, a person can be homeless in her heart.  Most often, that little “something” is all that person needs before she is able to mobilize her own resources against a harsh season. This kind of “flannel shirt” can come in many forms when “winter” hits unexpectedly – an encouraging word, prepared meal, offered errand, a listening ear. You can always keep that kind of warmth ready, just in case you meet someone for whom the heart fires have died.

I had never thought that Mercy could be made of flannel.  But, upon reflection, I think it just might be.

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 – The Good Samaritan

Click to read passage.

Thanksgiving

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, Mercy, spirituality8 Comments

Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time-Thanksgiving
November 28, 2024

Readings for Thanksgiving Day:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112824-thanksgiving.cfm

And now, bless the God of all,
    who has done wondrous things on earth;
Who fosters people’s growth from their mother’s womb,
    and fashions them according to his will!
May he grant you joy of heart
    and may peace abide among you;
May God’s goodness toward us endure
    to deliver us in our days.
Sirach 50:22-24

Poetry: Thanksgiving Presence – Renee Yann, RSM

Music: Now Thank We All Our God