Christ and the Canaanite Woman – Annibale Carracci
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we read the story of the Canaanite woman whom Jesus first meets with sarcastic banter. The banter however serves to expose some of the alienating prejudices of Jesus’s time which he then dissolves in a sweeping act of mercy and inclusion.
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Matthew 15:25-28
The outcast Canaanite woman prevails on Jesus to broaden his kingdom. His response is to open his heart to another way of bringing mercy to all those longing for it. Jesus’s words and actions signify a new culture of divine justice offered to all people. They alert his reticent disciples to practice the same kind of generous, inclusive mercy in their ministries.
Our Gospel challenges us to confront our own prejudices and any limitations we place on who is welcome in the Kingdom of God. It clearly establishes a single element as the determiner of who belongs to God’s new Reign of Love. That element is FAITH.
Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Prose for Reflection: Pope Francis continually encourages the Church toward this faith-defined inclusivity.
“Being the church, being the people of God, … means being God’s leaven in this our humanity. It means proclaiming and bearing God’s salvation in this our world, which is often lost and needful of having encouraging answers, answers that give hope, that give new energy along the journey.
May the church be the place of God’s mercy and love where everyone can feel themselves welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live according to the good life of the Gospel. And in order to make others feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged, the church must have open doors so that all might enter. And we must go out of those doors and proclaim the Gospel.”
Music: All Are Welcome – Marty Haugen
Let us build a house Where love can dwell And all can safely live A place where Saints and children tell How hearts learn to forgive Built of hopes and dreams and visions Rock of faith and vault of grace Here the love of Christ shall end divisions All are welcome, all are welcome All are welcome in this place
Let us build a house where prophets speak And words are strong and true Where all God's children dare to seek To dream God's reign anew Here the cross shall stand as witness And a symbol of God's grace Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus All are welcome, all are welcome All are welcome in this place
Let us build a house where love is found In water, wine and wheat A banquet hall on holy ground Where peace and justice meet Here the love of God, through Jesus Is revealed in time and space As we share in Christ the feast that frees us All are welcome, all are welcome All are welcome in this place
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, with passages from Numbers and Deuteronomy, we begin a week and a half of readings that complete our scriptural journey through the Pentateuch.
The Book of Numbers, so named because of the two censuses within it, draws the Exodus journey to a close. The people are nearly at the edge of the Promised Land – but not yet. They are tired and frustrated and they let Moses know it:
The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.”
“Not Yet” is one of the hardest times in a journey. Driving from Philly to Knoxville to visit my family, I marveled at how the last two hours seemed so much longer than the eight which had preceded them! If there are kids in the car, the point is painfully driven home:
Are we there yet? x 1000!= Frustration
In today’s reading, the Israelites frustrate Moses with their “Are we there yet” attitude. Moses begs God to give him a break because his leadership is crumbling in the hungry unrest of the people:
“Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the LORD. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers?
Numbers 11:11-12
A core message from today’s Numbers passage is that the people need to be “fed” or they will not continue on the journey. Jesus acknowledges this universal fact in today’s Gospel. The story recounts the miracle of a physical feeding of the crowds, but the real miracle is the resuscitation of their faith because they witness the power of God in Christ.
We, individually and as a Church, need to be fed in order to continue our journey of faith. It is important for each of us to build into our lives those practices which will nourish our faith and spirituality: reflective prayer, enlivening spiritual reading, and merciful service. It is also critical for us to assess the kind of communal nourishment we receive within our faith communities and, where that nourishment is lacking, to acknowledge distress and seek alternatives as the hungry Israelites did in the desert.
Recently I was with a group of deeply faithful Christians where this shocking phrase was spoken and acknowledged: “The Catholic Church is dead“. What the phrase connotes is that, in light of the clerical abuse and other institutional scandals, coupled with the absence of inspirational Church leadership, many Catholics are starving for nourishment on the journey. Clearly, the same may be said of other Christian Churches.
To varying degrees, we may be familiar with the Synod 2021-24 initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021.
The word synod comes from the Greek: σύνοδος [ˈsinoðos], meaning “assembly” or “meeting”; the term is analogous with the Latin word concilium meaning “council”.
The word synod comes from the Greek meaning “assembly” or “meeting”; the term is analogous with the Latin word concilium meaning “council”.
Traditionally, we are familiar with such gatherings being constituted primarily by the hierarchy of the Church. Synod 2021-24 is different.
The Synod on Synodality represents a new and exciting phase in the life of the Church. This phase deepens the ecclesiology of the People of God developed at the Second Vatican Council and invites us to generate processes of conversion and reform of relationships, communicative dynamics and structures in the Church. This will require a process of common discernment and formation in the short, medium and long term to stimulate the awareness of a Church lived and understood in a synodal key.
Boston College – School of Theology and Ministry
Many of us are old enough to remember the intense enthusiasm and hope which sprang from the Second Vatican Council a half-century ago. The inspired Vatican II documents fueled a dynamic revitalization for the People of God.
But over the course of 5o years, the Church’s landscape has changed:
plummeting numbers in religious and priestly vocations
scars from the sexual abuse scandal
misalignment between practice and teaching on sexuality, gender, and marriage
disaffection of women and young adults with the Church
widespread persecution of the missionary Church in totalitarian and extremist Islamic states
These are issues that must be addressed by the whole Church acting in a synodal manner similar to that of the inaugural Christian community:
At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.* Select from among you seven reputable disciples, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task.
… The proposal was acceptable to the whole community.
Acts 6:1-5
The aim of the current synodal process is not to provide a temporary or one-time experience of synodality, but rather to provide an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal Church in the long-term. A basic question prompts and guides us: How does this journeying together allow the Church to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the mission entrusted to Her; and what steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow as a synodal Church?
Vatican Commentary on the Synodal Process
The prayers, participation, and support of faithful people are critical to the success of this Synod because it is truly a synod of the people. It is important for us to pray for the Church, for the Pope, and assess the level of our own contribution to the life of the community. I know I need to take my awareness and attention up a notch, and I thought perhaps some of my readers might too. Many of us may look to this synod as the sign of hope we need in deeply challenging times.
Prose: from Pope Francis on World Youth Day
We recall that the purpose of the Synod is not to produce documents, but to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands.
Music: I Am the Bread of Life – Suzanne Toolan, RSM
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our Gospel describes the suffering to be encountered by disciples as they live and preach the Gospel.
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.
Matthew 10:16-18
The suffering is predicted to come from many quarters, but perhaps the most heart-breaking is persecutioin within families:
Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:21-22
Our reading from Genesis, on the other hand, describes the loving resolution of a long-standing family rupture as Jacob (now called “Israel”) reunites with his long-lost son:
Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen, Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms. And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive.”
Genesis 46:28-30
Many of us have borne the pain of similar fractures in our various “families”: family of origin, community, church or friends. Sometimes the cause of these breaks may be contradictions in faith and moral practice. At other times, loving bonds break because of willfulness, arrogance, ignorance, small-heartedness or the many other forms of human limitation.
The outrageous jealousy of Joseph’s brothers cleft their otherwise contented family. But into that chasm, God poured time’s grace and Joseph’s healing. From these gifts, Joseph was able to step into reconciliation, inviting his repentant brothers to join him.
In our own lives, such a step can be inordinately huge. The longer we hesitate to take it, the more it widens, sometimes to the point of apparent no return. But the grace of forgiveness is always available to us even if actual reconciliation is impossible because of the recalcitrance, inaccessibility, or perhaps even death of the other party.
When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Matthew 10:19-20
Psalm Poem: Psalm 37 – interpreted by Christine Robinson
The evil prosper, but don’t you wallow in anger. Do what you can and let it go. Remember the long arc of the universe and how it bends towards justice. Set your feet on that path; it is True.
Be still. Wait for God’s word to speak to your heart. Enjoy your life as it is, find your work, love those around you. Hold your head up and teach your children.
Notice those who are honest. Join the upright Make peace where you can Trust in God.
Music: excerpts from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Andrew Llyod Webber
These two videos capture the story of Jacob’s arrival in Egypt and Joseph’s self-reconciliation. The first ends rather abruptly, but thesecond picks up the action. All lyrics are below.
[NARRATOR] Joseph knew by this his brothers now were honest men The time had come at last to reunite them all again
[JOSEPH] Can’t you recognize my face? Is it hard to see That Joseph, who you thought was dead, your brother It’s me?
[ENESMBLE] Joseph, Joseph, is it really true? Joseph, Joseph, is it really you?
[NARRATOR & ENESMBLE] Joseph! Joseph!
——————-
So Jacob came to Egypt No longer feeling old And Joseph came to meet him In his chariot of gold Of gold Of gold Of gold!
————-
[JOSEPH] I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain To see for certain what I thought I knew Far, far away, someone was weeping But the world was sleeping Any dream will do
[JOSEPH & CHILDREN] I wore my coat with golden lining Bright colors shining, wonderful and new And in the east, the dawn was breaking And the world was waking Any dream will do A crash of drums
[NARRATOR] A flash of light
[JOSEPH] My golden coat flew out of sight
[JOSEPH & NARRATOR] The colors faded into darkness I was left alone
[JOSEPH, NARRATOR & CHILDREN] May I return to the beginning? The light is dimming, and the dream is too The world and I, we are still waiting Still hesitating Any dream will do
Today, in in God’s Lavish Mercy, we celebrate the great Apostles Peter and Paul, first architects of the Christian faith.
From our 21st century perspective, we may be tempted today to celebrate the totality of their accomplishments – the scriptures ascribed to them, the theology traced to them, the cathedrals named for them.
But there is a deeper message given to us in today’s readings, one that challenges our practice of faith. We can access that message by asking an obvious question:
Why were Peter and Paul, simple religious leaders, persecuted, imprisoned, harassed, and eventually executed? What was the terrible threat these unarmed preachers presented to political power?
In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also. –It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.– He had him taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.
Acts 12:1-3
The answer:
It was their testimony to the transformative Gospel message of Jesus Christ – the Gospel of Mercy and Justice.
But Jesus’ proclamation of God’s kingdom constituted a serious challenge to the Romans who ruled Israel during his lifetime. The cheering crowds who greeted him, especially during his entry into Jerusalem, as well as his confrontation with the moneychangers in the Temple, constituted such a threat to the unjust power of empire that the rulers crucified Jesus in order to silence him. – Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ
Peter and Paul, and every committed Christian after them, bears the same holy threatto ensuing cultures of domination, violence and greed.
As Jesus, Peter, Paul and so many others down through Pope Francis show us, faith and politics always work hand in hand. The work of faith is to build a world where every person can live, and find their way to God, in dignity and peace. It is to witness to an alternative to any power that feeds on the freedom, joy and peace of another person – especially those who are poor, sick and vulnerable.
May Peter and Paul inspire us to continue the daunting task of such an apostolic faith.
Poetry: The Passion of the Apostles Peter and Paul by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, a Roman Christian poet, born in 348 AD. With his merger of Christianity with classic culture, Prudentius was one of the most popular medieval authors, being aligned as late as the 13th century alongside such figures as Horace and Statius. (Wikipedia)
Reading this poem, I was pleasantly reminded of my long-ago Latin classes. For those who might want to read the original Latin composition, here is a link:
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we receive an in-depth teaching on Christian generosity.
In the early Church, as in the Church today, evangelism and ministry require material support. In Paul’s time, the mother Church in Jerusalem needed funds to support ongoing mission activity.
In our first reading, Paul writes a “fund-raising” letter to the Greek Corinthians. He challenges them to be generous by raising up to them the outstanding example of the Macedonian churches (Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea). These communities, despite their current hardship, gave beyond expectation to the Church’s need.
Macedonia and Greece had a competitive political relationship. Whether or not Paul was using this contention to stoke a response in Corinthian generosity, we can only guess. However, Paul is very clear about what should motivate the Christian heart to charity:
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9
While Paul has offered a tutorial on material giving, Jesus inspires us to a much deeper generosity. Jesus asks us to imitate God in our loving benevolence:
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Matthew 5:43-45
God’s generosity – God’s beautiful Mercy – does not distiguish between who is deserving and who is not. God’s love is universal and irrevocable. Jesus, who is the enfleshment of God’s Love, explains that God’s perfection consists in this Absolute Mercy. He tells us that we should strive to live a life in imitation of this Merciful Perfection.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:46-48
Jesus is telling us that by living in generous mercy, beyond worldly expectation, we become “perfect” or whole in the Wholeness of God. Mercy heals not only those we touch, it heals us.
Poetry: To Live in the Mercy of God – Denise Levertov
To lie back under the tallest oldest trees. How far the stems rise, rise before ribs of shelter open!
To live in the mercy of God. The complete sentence too adequate, has no give. Awe, not comfort. Stone, elbows of stony wood beneath lenient moss bed.
And awe suddenly passing beyond itself. Becomes a form of comfort. Becomes the steady air you glide on, arms stretched like the wings of flying foxes. To hear the multiple silence of trees, the rainy forest depths of their listening.
To float, upheld, as salt water would hold you, once you dared.
To live in the mercy of God.
To feel vibrate the enraptured
waterfall flinging itself unabating down and down to clenched fists of rock. Swiftness of plunge, hour after year after century, O or Ah uninterrupted, voice many-stranded. To breathe spray. The smoke of it. Arcs of steelwhite foam, glissades of fugitive jade barely perceptible. Such passion— rage or joy? Thus, not mild, not temperate, God’s love for the world. Vast flood of mercy flung on resistance.
Music: Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Holy Art Thou »-(adapted from Handel’s Largo “Ombra mai fu” in “Xerxes”. A beautiful instrumental version is under the hymn lyrics below.)
Holy art Thou, Holy art Thou, Lord God Almighty Glory and Majesty, in Heav′n are Thine Earth’s lowly bending, swells the full harmony Blessing and Glory to the Lamb, forevermore For worthy, worthy art Thou Worthy art Thou
Let all nations and kindreds and peoples Give thanks to Thee, forevermore Give thanks forevermore
Let all nations and kindreds and peoples Give thanks to Thee, forevermore
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Mary, the Mother of Christ and thus of the Church.
With her “Yes”, Mary engaged the Spirit of God and, like the ancient Holy City, became a dwelling place of Grace.
Glorious things are said of you, O city of God! And of Zion they shall say: “One and all were born in her; And the One who has established her is the Most High LORD.
Psalm 87
In her book “Truly Our Sister”, theologian Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, helps us to understand Mary as a companion, guide, and inspiration:
One fruitful approach to the theology of Mary, historically the mother of Jesus, called in faith the Theotokos or God-bearer, is to envision her as a concrete woman of our history who walked with the Spirit.
As I pray with Mary today, I picture her sitting with the young disciples after the mind-blowing experience of Pentecost. The whiff of Divine Electricity still pervades the room, still jars their senses to an indescribable timbre!
Mary is stilled with a silent understanding. From the abundance of her wisdom, gained in her daily presence with Jesus, Mary gently focuses, calms and directs these new evangelists for the task before them.
Mary is someone who has had her own “visitation by the Spirit”, many years before. Pentecost, for Mary, is a kind of “second Annunciation “. She knows what the willing reception of the Spirit will mean for one’s life.
Indeed, this moment – and their response, like hers so long ago – will bear God’s life into their world.
We call on Mary today, as Church and as individuals, to be with us as we are re-fired in the Holy Spirit. As we reflect on her and the way she opened her life to God, may we grow in faith and desire to open our own lives to the Spirit’s transformative power.
Elizabeth Johnson encourages us:
“to relate to Miriam of Nazareth as a partner in hope in the company of all the graced women and men who have gone before us; to be encouraged by her mothering of God to bring God to birth in our own world; to reclaim the power of her dangerous memory for the flourishing of suffering people; and to draw on the energy of her memory for a deeper relationship with the living God and stronger care for the world.”
Poetry: Annunciation – Denise Levertov
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, almost always a lectern, a book; always the tall lily. Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings, the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering, whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage.
The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent. God waited.
She was free to accept or to refuse, choice integral to humanness.
____________________
Aren’t there annunciations of one sort or another in most lives? Some unwillingly undertake great destinies, enact them in sullen pride, uncomprehending. More often those moments when roads of light and storm open from darkness in a man or woman, are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair and with relief. Ordinary lives continue. God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.
____________________
She had been a child who played, ate, slept like any other child–but unlike others, wept only for pity, laughed in joy not triumph. Compassion and intelligence fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous than any in all of Time, she did not quail, only asked a simple, ‘How can this be?’ and gravely, courteously, took to heart the angel’s reply, the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb Infinite weight and lightness; to carry in hidden, finite inwardness, nine months of Eternity; to contain in slender vase of being, the sum of power– in narrow flesh, the sum of light.
Then bring to birth, push out into air, a Man-child needing, like any other, milk and love–
but who was God.
This was the moment no one speaks of, when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed, Spirit, suspended, waiting. ____________________
She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’ Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’ She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced. Bravest of all humans, consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light, the lily glowed in it, and the iridescent wings. Consent, courage unparalleled, opened her utterly.
Music: Vespro Della Beata Vergine – Claudio Monteverdi
From the baroque period, Monteverdi praises Mary in his masterpiece, Vespro Della Beata Vergine commonly referred to as Vespers of 1610. The work is monumental in scale and difficult to perform, requiring two large choirs who are skillful enough to cover up to 10 voice parts accompanied by an orchestral ensemble. Here is just an excerpt.
Lauda, Jerusalem, Dominum: lauda Deum tuum, Sion. Quoniam confortavit seras portarum tuarum: benedixit filiis tuis in te. Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: et adipe frumenti satiat te. Qui emittit eloquium suum terræ: velociter currit sermo ejus. Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: nebulam sicut cinerem spargit. Mittit crystallum suam sicut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris ejus quis sustinebit? Emittet verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea: flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquæ. Qui annunciate verbum suum Jacob: justitias et judicia sua Isræl. Non fecit taliter omni nationi: et judicia sua non manifestavit eis. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest wheat. He sendeth his commandment to the earth; his word runneth swiftly. He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; before his cold who can stand? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; his spirit blows, and the waters flow. He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Isræl. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and his judgments he hath not made manifest. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, without end. Amen.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus prays for those he loves.
In our Gospel. we come to the last section of John 17, the High-Priestly Prayer of Jesus. In his prayer, Jesus prays for three things:
God’s glory,
the spiritual strength of his disciples
for us and all who will believe in him down through history
Today’s passage is the third part. It is about us, and the long line of believers preceding and following our lifetimes. Listen to how Jesus loves us all and begs the Creator to enfold us in the same Abundant Unity whch holds the Trinity together in Love :
(I pray) for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.
John 17:20-23
This is such a powerful passage. It tells us that when we truly love one another, with a love like God’s, we generate the image of God for our own time. That image is realized among us in many ways: Church, family, community, friendship, sisterhood, brotherhood. These are the constructs through which the human community experiences, learns ,and practices the Love which is Christ’s Gift to us.
Walter Brueggemann desribes this kind of love as “neighborliness” – that discipline of heart, mind, and spirit through which we are so connected to God’s Abundance that we willingly pass it along to one another. in a sacred mutuality of being. Brueggemann writes extensively and inspiringly on the topic, but I found some of his thoughts outlined in this excellent paper that you might want to reflect on someday at your leisure:
In his prayer, Jesus is tapping into the Infinite Generosity we call God, that Generosity Who has loved us so much that we came into being, that Generosity Who continues to love us eternally into the abundance of life we call Heaven.
Being loved like this, can we be anything but generous in our love for others? It’s a good question to ask ourselves when we reflect on our day before we fall asleep each night.
Poetry: Neighbors by Rudyard Kipling – Kipling gives us an enjoyable interpretation of the Golden Rule to love our neighbors.
The man that is open of heart to his neighbor,
And stops to consider his likes and dislikes,
His blood shall be wholesome whatever his labor,
His luck shall be with him whatever he strikes.
The Splendor of Morning shall duly possess him,
That he may not be sad at the falling of eve.
And, when he has done with mere living, God bless him!
A many shall sigh, and one Woman shall grieve!
But he that is costive of soul toward his fellow, Through the ways, and the works, and the woes of this life, Him food shall not fatten, him drink shall not mellow; And his innards shall brew him perpetual strife. His eye shall be blind to God's Glory above him; His ear shall be deaf to Earth's Laughter around; His Friends and his Club and his Dog shall not love him; And his Widow shall skip when he goes underground!
Music: Bring Him Home – original music by Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics written by Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer
The sentiments of the beautiful song from Les Misérables are very similar in tone to the prayer that Jesus prays near the end of his life. Jesus wants his followers to live eternally. The singer seems to want the same thing.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we begin a week of final and powerful readings which close both the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John. These readings proclaim the inherent centrality of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and of every Chrisitan believer.
In Acts, Paul has traveled deeper into the heart of Asia Minor, where he meets “disciples” who have never even heard of the Holy Spirit. They have much to learn about the faith and how it will live in them now, after the conclusion of Christ’s life on earth.
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “How were you baptized?” They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Acts 19:2-3
The baptism of John was a sacred ritual of the Old Testament which prepared its recipients to open their hearts to a new understanding of God. That new understanding is manifested in the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus. It is then in Jesus’ Name, and in our communion with him, that we are able to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, just as the disciples did on Pentecost.
So the process looks like this:
In Scripture:
In our lives:
Baptism of John
we desire to believe and deepen our life in God
Incarnation of God in Christ
we learn what God is like and how to love God through the life and teachings of Jesus
Manifestation of God on Pentecost
we are immersed in the Holy Spirit, God’s life living eternally within us
In our Gospel today, Jesus continues to lead his disciples to the awareness that he is returning to God and that the Spirit will come. They express their reliance on him, but he tells them that that is not enough. In his physical absence, that reliance will be sorely tested and they will retreat into their own fragile securities.
However, Jesus assures them that his transcendent relationship with the Creator in the Holy Spirit will sustain him. His disciples should find peace in that knowledge and the strength to overcome whatever has weakened and “scattered” them.
(the disciples said) “Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
John 16:30-33
As we read these profound and pivotal passages, we must remember that every word in Scripture also speaks to us. We too are approaching the great epiphany of Pentecost when our hearts are renewed in God’s incandescent Eternal Love. Filled with the peace Jesus offers in our Gospel, let us respond in synchonicity with our Alleluia Verse today:
Alleluia! Alleluia! If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1
Poetry: To Live with the Spirit of God – Jessica Powers
To live with the Spirit of God is to be a listener. It is to keep the vigil of mystery, earthless and still. One leans to catch the stirring of the Spirit, strange as the wind’s will.
The soul that walks where the wind of the Spirit blows turns like a wandering weather-vane toward love. It may lament like Job or Jeremiah, echo the wounded hart, the mateless dove. It may rejoice in spaciousness of meadow that emulates the freedom of the sky.
Always it walks in waylessness, unknowing; it has cast down forever from its hand the compass of the whither and the why.
To live with the Spirit of God is to be a lover. It is becoming love, and like to Him toward Whom we strain with metaphors of creatures: fire-sweep and water-rush and the wind’s whim. The soul is all activity, all silence; and though it surges Godward to its goal, it holds, as moving earth holds sleeping noonday, the peace that is the listening of the soul.
A little explanation: For those of my readers who do not live in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, today’s readings will be different from the ones used for the reflection. In the archdioceses and dioceses within the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia, the Ascension of the Lord always falls on Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter and is a Holyday of Obligation. In all other archdioceses and dioceses, the Ascension of the Lord is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
If you wish, you may use the Ascension reflection from last Thursday, or refer to this reflection by the always excellent Mary McGlone from this week’s NCR.
Could this be a rarely seen 1st century photo of Mary (in blue) with some friends and the Eleven.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our reading from Acts gives us a group photo of the “Apostolic Council”. Think of it as the foundational selfie of Catholic history. And all the big names are there in indelible magic marker with a few “also ran”s mentioned as a seeming afterthought.
Let’s talk about those “also ran”s – those unnamed champions of the faith who are there, who show up, who do the heavy lifting, and whose names disappear into history like the black powder in an Etch-a-Sketch. Let’s talk about them because they are us.
In his letter, Peter tells us to be joyful when our devotion to the faith brings us suffering! Doing so, we become the unnamed disciples of the Gospel carrying human history forward to eternal life.
Rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Living with that kind of resolute joy is a huge challenge unless we understand the reason for it. Jesus explains the reason clearly in our Gospel – eternal life.
Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
We not talking about a good life, a happy life, a complete life, an inspiring life. They are all really wonderful things. What we’re talking about here is THE only thing that matters:
Let’s ask for it. Let’s pray for it. Let’s do everything we can to open our hearts to it!
Poetry: Forever Is Composed of Nows – Emily Dickinson
Forever – is composed of Nows – ’Tis not a different time – Except for Infiniteness – And Latitude of Home –
From this – experienced Here – Remove the Dates – to These – Let Months dissolve in further Months – And Years – exhale in Years …
Music: Song to the Moon – from Rusalka
Rusalka Op. 114, is an opera (‘lyric fairy tale’) by Antonín Dvořák. The “Song to the Moon” is so beautiful and one of my favorite arias. The vocal version is thrilling, but I found this instrumental version which is more fitting for meditation. I hope you enjoy it.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings remind us that there are many ways to learn about and grow deeper in our relationship with God.
We can learn from teachers, each of whom has a different tincture to enrich the body of Christian teaching. Today, we meet a few of these very early teachers – Apollos, Priscilla, Aquila, and of course the Teaching Master, Jesus.
Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla
Apollos was a Jewish Christian from Alexandria, Egypt. He was brilliant, steeped in the knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. He was a compelling presenter and an exceptional logician. Luke tells us that Apollos had been instructed in the “Way of the Lord”. When he arrived in Ephesus, Apollos immediately began to “speak boldly” in the synagogue.
There was a problem though. Even though he knew the “Way” or the Gospel, Apollos hadn’t completed the whole course, so to speak. He knew only the baptism of John and not that of the Holy Spirit. So there were some gaps in his “curriculum”, gaps which were evident to two other excellent teachers – the husband and wife team of Priscilla and Aquila.
Priscilla was so kind. She took Apollos aside and quietly redirected some of his thinking. He must have been so grateful for her wise attention and gentle collegial wisdom. And Apollos deserves credit too. He was receptive to the fraternal correction, even that of a woman! Imagine!
This passage from Acts offers us so much food for thought. As we learn and share our faith and spiritual understanding, we must seek guiding input from well-grounded teachers. We should be willing to speak up when we hear the Gospel poorly interpreted or used inappropriately for the advancement of personal and political agendas.
Over the 2000-year evolution of Christianity, many suspect offshoots have arisen. In the early centuries, Christian teachers coped with various heresies which you may have studied in high school such as Arianism, Pantheism, Pelagianism, Gnosticism, etc.
In our modern world, major religions deal with such aberrations as the distortions of the “prosperity Gospel”, exaggerated fundamentalism, and abusive Sharia law.
In our Gospel, Jesus is clear that true faith resides in those who love him, and who love as He has loved. They live and teach in His Name. Without love like Christ’s at its core, any purported religious teaching is a mere shell of the true Gospel.
The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.
John 16:25-28
Prose: from Rabindranath Tagore
A teacher can never truly teach unless he too continues to teach himself. One lamp can never light another unless it continues to burn its own flames.
Similarly, the teacher who has come to the end of his subject, and has no living traffic with his knowledge but merely repeats his lessons to his students, can only burden their minds, he cannot inspire them.
Truth not only must inform but also inspire; if this inspiration dies out and information merely keeps on accumulating, then truth loses its infinity.
Music: Teach Us, Good Lord (The Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola – see below) – Music, David Ogden
Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give, and not to count the cost, to fight, and not to heed the wounds, to toil, and not to seek for rest, to labor, and not to ask for reward, except that of knowing that we are doing your will.
Lavish Mercy 