Category: Charity

Even

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Service, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091224.cfm

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:31-36

“Even” can be a parsimonious word – as in “get even”, “even-steven”. In such phrases, “even” means we settle things without forgiveness or generosity. It means we get our due without considering the other’s need.

But Jesus says the Gospel heart is not about “evenness”. Rather it is weighted on the side of extravagant mercy, generosity, and forgiveness.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for the courage to model our relationships with others on God’s incredible kindness to us.

Quote: Wendell Berry from his reflection, “Loving my enemies and living simply”.
The entire reflection is available here:
https://www.openhorizons.org/loving-my-enemies-and-living-simply-wendell-berry-on-jesus-and-the-gospels.html

But to take the Gospels seriously, to assume that they say what they mean and mean what they say, is the beginning of troubles. Those would-be literalists who yet argue that the Bible is unerring and unquestionable have not dealt with its contradictions, which of course it does contain, and the Gospels are not exempt. Some of Jesus’ instructions are burdensome not because they involve contradiction, but merely because they are so demanding.

The proposition that love, forgiveness and peaceableness are the only neighborly relationships that are acceptable to God is difficult for us weak and violent humans, but it is plain enough for any literalist. We must either accept it as an absolute or absolutely reject it. The same for the proposition that we are not permitted to choose our neighbors ahead of time or to limit neighborhood, as is plain from the parable of the Samaritan.

The same for the requirement that we must be perfect, like God, which seems as outrageous as the Buddhist vow to “save all sentient beings,” and perhaps is meant to measure and instruct us in the same way. It is, to say the least, unambiguous.

Music: Love Your Enemies – Kyle Sigmon

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

Just

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, justice, Love, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
August 21, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082124.cfm

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
Matthew 20:1-4

Jesus tells the parable of the generous landowner who measures out recompense by love not law. Jesus teaches that this new law of love is the Godly means to calculate justice.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to live by the kind of loving justice Jesus calls us to, not by the measurements that keep others in subservience or oppression.
We might ask ourselves these questions:

  • What really belongs to me?
  • If I have achieved or received much in life is it not by the grace of God and good fortune?
  • How can I help others have what they justly deserve?

Poetry: from Rumi

When I am with you, everything is prayer.
I prayed for change,
so, I changed my mind.

I prayed for guidance
and learned to trust myself.

I prayed for happiness
and realized I am not my ego.

I prayed for peace
and learned to accept others unconditionally.

I prayed for abundance
and realized my doubt kept it out.

I prayed for wealth
and realized it is my health.

I prayed for a miracle
and realized I am the miracle.

I prayed for a soul mate
and realized I am with the One.

I prayed for love
and realized it is always knocking,
but I have to allow it in.

Music: Already All I Need – Christy Nockels

Gathered

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Church, Community, Discipleship, Faith, spirituality4 Comments

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
August 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081424.cfm

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.

Music: Sesame Street Community Song

Deny

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Conversion, Courage, Creation, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, spiritualityLeave a comment

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
August 9, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080924.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 16: 24-25

This passage from Matthew is one of the most astounding challenges Jesus gave his disciples: deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me.

What does it really mean to deny oneself? Does it mean to become a doormat or a Milquetoast? Does it suggest repressing one’s personality or ambitions? To act like a nobody?

Of course not! So many places in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures assure us that we are unique, precious, and beloved of God. God doesn’t want us not to be ourselves because that’s who we were created to be!

I think denying oneself means not getting caught in the mirror of selfishness. Instead we are called to focus on Jesus and his absolute care for all Creation, especially those who are poor, sick, outcast, and troubled. We can’t really do that if we are consumed with self-interest.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace to be aware, brave, and faithful enough to put the good of others first for the sake of Christ.

Poetry: As the Ruin Falls – C.S. Lewis

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm.
 And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man.
 And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls.
 The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.

Music: Deny Yourself – Paul Melley

Deny yourself.

Take up your cross
.
Despite the pain

Despite the cost.
Leave all behind

and follow me.

Deny yourself,

be free.

For what will it profit to gain the world
and lose your life? 

Those who would save their life will lose it.

What can you give in return for your life?

For those would lose their life will find it.

Deny yourself.

Come, take up your cross and daily follow me 

and you will have rich reward in heaven.

Those who have left their home and family for his sake

inherit one hundred fold,

inherit eternal life.
Deny yourself.

What can you give in return for your life?
For those who would lose their life,

lose their life will find it

Deny yourself

Lord, you reveal the depth 
of your life and your love
in your everlasting covenant.

Strengthen the faith we share,
fill our work with your love,
and bring all of us to grace,
to the grace you promise.



Bread

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080424.cfm

Then the LORD said to Moses,
“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not.

“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”
Exodus 16:11-12

In both our readings, God recognizes physical hunger and ties it to spiritual strength.

In our Gospel, Jesus makes the connection clear. He tells his followers:

“For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”

No matter how much we are “fed”, we will never be satisfied until our nurture blesses the rest of the world as well as ourselves.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask to be more aware of, grateful for, and generous with the blessings we have received.

Poetry: Bread – Richard Levine

Each night, in a space he’d make
between waking and purpose,
my grandfather donned his one
suit, in our still dark house, and drove
through Brooklyn’s deserted streets
following trolley tracks to the bakery.
There he’d change into white
linen work clothes and cap,
and in the absence of women,
his hands were both loving, well
into dawn and throughout the day—
kneading, rolling out, shaping
each astonishing moment
of yeasty predictability
in that windowless world lit
by slightly swaying naked bulbs,
where the shadows staggered, woozy
with the aromatic warmth of the work.
Then, the suit and drive, again.
At our table, graced by a loaf
that steamed when we sliced it,
softened the butter and leavened
the very air we’d breathe,
he’d count us blessed.

Music: Bread for the World – Bernadette Farrell

Mystery

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071424.cfm

In all wisdom and insight, God has made known to us
the mystery of the Divine Will in accord with the favor
set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of times,
to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.
Ephesians 1:9-10

In this tiny passage from Ephesians, Paul describes infinite realities – that our Creator has shared with us a Divine Mystery that we will never fully understand in this life. The Mystery has been embodied in the life and Person of Jesus Christ so that we may see and imitate what Divine Love looks like. That alignment with Love is the Will of our God for us.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask that our simple faith may open itself to the Mystery of God’s Love. God is not a problem to be solved. Nor are God’s ways fully comprehensible to us. But Jesus has lived Love in our midst so that we can see the only thing we need to understand.

Poetry: Love’s Choice – Malcolm Guite

This bread is light, dissolving, almost air,
A little visitation on my tongue,
A wafer-thin sensation, hardly there.
This taste of wine is brief in flavour, flung
A moment to the palate’s roof and fled,
Even its aftertaste a memory.
Yet this is how He comes. 
Through wine and bread
Love chooses to be emptied into me.
He does not come in unimagined light
Too bright to be denied, too absolute
For consciousness, too strong for sight,
Leaving the seer blind, the poet mute;
Chooses instead to seep into each sense,
To dye himself into experience.

Music: The Mystery – Michael Card and John Michael Talbot

Could you be findin’ the mystery
You have been lookin’ for
A kingdom where servants will come to be kings
Are you lookin’ for
And you’ll know
That the sweet paradoxes unfold
And the mystery will clearly show
And you’ll know
And you’ll know

Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)
Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)
Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)

And we know You are the Master of painters
Comin’ the true Prince of Peace
And we know You are the Tue Creator
Comin’ the King of kings

Jesus, paint my life with charity
Paint my life with mercy
Paint my life

Can you be the light of the world
Can you be the light
Then take the light that’s given to you
Can you be the light

Can you give your love to the world
Can you give your love
Take the love that’s given to you
Can you give your love

Jesus, paint my life with charity
Paint my life with mercy
Paint my life
Paint my life

Fruit

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, justice, spirituality2 Comments

Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
June 26, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062624.cfm

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7: 18-20

Jesus speaks these words to warn his followers about false prophets. These charlatans may be clothed in a gentle sheep’s skin, but inside they are voracious wolves consuming everything for their own gain. They are liars, thieves, cheats, and pretenders.

Yet many people trust and believe them. How can that be? Are we just too naive to see them for what they are? Maybe. But I think it’s more likely that we want to believe their lies because we think we will benefit from them. We excuse their cheating and veiled thievery because it hasn’t hurt us, just the “other guy”. We espouse their pretenses because we mistakenly believe they will advance us as well as the “wolves”.

Jesus knows we’re not stupid. He says there is one clear and sure-fired way to identify a false prophet. By their fruits you shall know them – and those “fruits” should be the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If, despite the rotten fruit they have produced, we follow them then we will end up in the fire just like they will.

An image today instead of a poem

Music: Ubi Caritas – Where Love and Charity Abide, There is God

Gate

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Conversion, Faith, spirituality2 Comments

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
June 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062524.cfm

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.“Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7:12-14

Jesus says that the gate is narrow which leads to life. It’s a warning that makes me want to sit up and pay attention to my life! Just what is it that I should take from Jesus’s words?

I think Jesus is telling us that our lives are occupied with a lot more unimportant stuff than important stuff. What is it that really matters each day in my thoughts, actions, relationships, plans?

Jesus says that the measure of what matters is this:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I want to be respected, noticed, cared for, appreciated and loved. That’s what I hope others “do unto me”. When I pray over my day at night, have I treated others this way? Have I found the narrow gate Jesus is describing?

Prose: from How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

You want the approval of those with whom you come in contact.
You want recognition of your true worth.
You want a feeling that you are important in your little world.
You don’t want to listen to cheap, insincere flattery,
but you do crave sincere appreciation.
You want your friends and associates to be,
as Charles Schwab put it,
“hearty in their approbation and lavish in their praise.”
All of us want that.
So let’s obey the Golden Rule, and give unto others
what we would have others give unto us.
How? When? Where?
The answer is: All the time, everywhere.”

Music: Do Right to Me, Baby (Do Unto Others) – Bob Dylan

Don’t wanna judge nobody, don’t wanna be judged
Don’t wanna touch nobody, don’t wanna be touched
Don’t wanna hurt nobody, don’t wanna be hurt
Don’t wanna treat nobody like they was dirt
But if you do right to me, baby
I’ll do right to you too
Got to do unto others like you’d have them
Like you’d have them do unto you
Don’t wanna shoot nobody, don’t wanna be shot
Don’t wanna buy nobody, don’t wanna be bought
Don’t wanna bury nobody, don’t wanna be buried
Don’t wanna marry nobody if they’re already married
But if you do right to me, baby
I’ll do right to you too
Got to do unto others like you’d have them
Like you’d have them do unto you
Don’t wanna burn nobody, don’t wanna be burned
Don’t wanna learn from nobody what I gotta unlearn
Don’t wanna cheat nobody but don’t wanna be cheated
Don’t wanna defeat nobody if they’ve already been defeated
But if you do right to me, baby
I’ll do right to you too
Got to do unto others like you’d have them
Like you’d have them do unto you
Don’t wanna wink at nobody, I don’t wanna be winked at
Don’t wanna be used by nobody for a doormat
Don’t wanna confuse nobody, don’t wanna be confused
Don’t wanna amuse nobody and don’t wanna be amused
But if you do right to me, baby
I’ll do right to you too
Got to do unto others like you’d have them
Say, like you’d have them do unto you
Don’t wanna betray nobody, don’t wanna be betrayed
Don’t wanna play with nobody, don’t wanna be waylaid
Don’t wanna miss nobody, don’t wanna be missed
Don’t put my faith in nobody, not even a scientist
But if you do right to me, baby
I’ll do right to you too
You got to do unto others like you’d have them
Like you’d have them do unto you

Forgive

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Faith, Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
June 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062024.cfm

Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’

“If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

In these verses, Jesus utters another dangerous prayer: forgive us, God, as we forgive others.

Uh oh! I don’t know about you, but I think we can be pretty bad at forgiveness. It’s so much easier to remember a wrong done to us, to excuse ourselves of any responsibility for it, to fester in its hurt, to calculate a concomitant revenge, to demonize and ostracize the offender.

Jesus says, “Hey, is that the way you want God to forgive you?”

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We examine Jesus’s words in the Our Father to find the secret to forgiveness.

  • We are all the children of One God, equally and completely loved.
  • God wills holiness and joy for every one of us.
  • God will always grant forgiveness to the ready heart.
  • We live for the hope of heaven, and the circumstances of this world pale in its Light.
  • Still, in our daily circumstances, we need to be fed by the Spirit in order to find the courage and desire to forgive as God does.

Poetry: Enemies – Wendell Berry

If you are not to become a monster,
you must care what they think.
If you care what they think,
how will you not hate them,
and so become a monster
of the opposite kind? From where then
is love to come—love for your enemy
that is the way of liberty?
From forgiveness. Forgiven, they go
free of you, and you of them;
they are to you as sunlight
on a green branch. You must not
think of them again, except
as monsters like yourself,
pitiable because unforgiving.

Music: Forgiveness – Matthew West