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
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.” Revelation 1:5-8
Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his 1925 encyclical Quas primas. The encyclical was written in response to growing secularism and secular ultra-nationalism. The encyclical, wedged between two World Wars, attempted to focus people’s minds and hearts on Christ whose power unites and directs us to peace rather than domination.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to be agents of peace and justice in our world, sustained by our devotion to Christ who modeled his kingship by loving service, especially to the poor and marginalized.
Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers; they have testified to your love before the Church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are accepting nothing from the pagans. Therefore, we ought to support such persons, so that we may be co-workers in the truth. 3 John 5:8
Most of us have felt like strangers at some point in our lives. It’s not a nice feeling. You might have attended an event without a date or companion. You might have been the only woman in a group of men, or vice versa. You might have been the only Black person at a White funeral or the other way around. Didn’t we hope to find someone to connect to, someone who would offer us an open door?
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: As we think about Paul’s teaching, and our own experiences, let’s prayerfully consider our attitudes and actions regarding immigrants and refugees. Persons displaced by climate, politics, poverty, lawlessness, and a host of other causes deserve our help, as Paul describes. Let’s ask ourselves how we’re doing with that.
Poem: The Kindness of Strangers – Sally Van Dorn
Here I am with all my flaws seeking form and shelter.
I blanche at the notion of violence, but it’s coming
after us, closing in like a superstition I can’t shake.
If I acquiesce to your harsh future you must promise me
one thing. Where we go we will find our youth again. Can you
see it there under the yellow linen tablecloth? I’m depending on it.
Music: Wayfaring Stranger – published in 1858, author unknown
I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through this world below There is no sickness, no toil, no danger In that bright land to which I go I'm going there to see my father And all my loved ones who've gone on I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home I know dark clouds will gather 'round me I know my way is hard and steep But beauteous fields arise before me Where God's redeemed, their vigils keep I'm going there to see my mother She said she'd meet me when I come So I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home
Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. Corinthians 3:16-17
How different our world would be if we believed this passage! How could we damage the precious gift of God’s Presence in ourselves or in one another!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to the Spirit Who dwells in us, Whom we can never dislodge through transgression, to grant us a deep awareness and respect for the Holy in ourselves and all Creation. Today’s feast does not celebrate a building. It celebrates a symbol of who we are created to be in the power and oneness of God.
Poetry: St. John Lateran – Bessie Rayner Parkes (1829-1925)
Of temples built by mortal hands, Give honor to the Lateran first; ‘Twas here the hope of many lands– The infant Church–was nursed:
And grew unto a great estate, And waxed strong in grace and power, With Christ for Head and Faithful Mate, And Learning for her dower.
Since first this house to Him was raised, Three times five hundred years have run; For this let Constantine be praised, An English mother’s son!
He with his own imperial sword Did dig foundations broad and deep, That henceforth in His hand the Lord Rome and her hills should keep.
In after ages, one by one, Arose the altars vowed to Heaven; Each crest is sacred now, but none Like this of all the Seven!
Behold she stands! The Mother Church! A queen among her countless peers! Ah! open be that sacred porch For thrice five hundred years!
Video: A Virtual Visit to St. John Lateran Cathedral in Rome
Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:8-10
Today’s powerful Gospel passage follows on yesterday’s theme of rejoicing. Don’t we all know how it feels to lose or misplace something that’s very important to us? How many times in my life have I said my three Hail Mary’s and the Prayer to St. Anthony!!!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: In prayer, I have often placed myself beside the woman of the coins, to assess her emotions as she searches and then finds. Note the essential dimension of her discovery – she gathers her friends and REJOICES! She teaches us that faith expresses and enriches itself in community.
Poetry: Homemaker God – Irene Zimmerman, OSF
The Homemaker God has come to my house to search for the lost coin of me which I, in my miserly morning, thinking this frugal and wise and worthy of praise and grace, hid in a safe “good place.”
The Homemaker God has taken her broom and swept from attic to basement, moved cupboards and dressers, stripped beds, emptied drawers— now she’s checking each pantry shelf for the silver coin of myself.
The Homemaker God will find me, I trust— she knows how to raise dust.
Music: O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping Through Us” by Bessie Porter Head (1849–1936)
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19
These poetic words of Jesus paint a picture of heaven filled with humility, hope, vitality, possibility, and Divine hospitality. Our hearts are the gardens where God plants this mystical seed! Amazing!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to have a holy longing for the heavenly seed God’s offers us. We pray to be loving gardeners of God’s indescribable gifts of faith, hope, and charity.
Poetry: God’s Garden by Dorothy Frances Gurney
The Lord God planted a garden In the first white days of the world, And He set there an angel warden In a garment of light enfurled.
So near to the peace of Heaven, That the hawk might nest with the wren, For there in the cool of the even God walked with the first of men.
And I dream that these garden-closes With their shade and their sun-flecked sod And their lilies and bowers of roses, Were laid by the hand of God.
The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth,– One is nearer God’s heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth.
For He broke it for us in a garden Under the olive-trees Where the angel of strength was the warden And the soul of the world found ease.
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Ephesians 2:19-20
As we celebrate the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, we reflect on the long history of faith we have inherited. We think not only of those ancient brothers and sisters, but also of the more immediate members of our own families and communties who have formed us in the faith.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We give thanks for all those, especially those dear to us, who have transmitted and nurtured faith in our hearts.
Poetry: To Mother – Thomas W. Fessenden
You painted no Madonnas On chapel walls in Rome, But with a touch diviner You lived one in your home. You wrote no lofty poems That critics counted art, But with a nobler vision You lived them in your heart. You carved no shapeless marble To some high-souled design, But with a finer sculpture You shaped this soul of mine. You built no great cathedrals That centuries applaud, But with a grace exquisite Your life cathedraled God. Had I the gift of Raphael, Or Michelangelo, Oh, what a rare Madonna My mother's life would show!
Music: The Church’s One Foundation – written by Samuel John Stone in the 1860’s
The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. Luke 11:42
Jesus got fed up with those who lived a loveless law. The Pharisees were meticulous in their outward observation of the Law of Moses, but they failed its core test to love their neighbor as themselves as written in Leviticus.
Thought:
The only love of God that has any substance is the love of God enacted as love of neighbor.
Walter Brueggemann
Music: Love God, Love Your Neighbor – Dale Sechrest
For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28
The faith we share with other Christians makes us one in Christ. If someone has become “the other” for us, the integrity our faith is damaged in some way.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to truly be clothed in Christ – to so espouse his Gospel that we live in charity and reverence for all Creation.
Thought: from St. Augustine
O Sacrament of Love! O sign of Unity! O bond of Charity! They who would have Life find here indeed a Life to live in and a Life to live by.
An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” Luke 9:46-48
In the Gospel both today and yesterday, the disciples are struggling with their pride and expectations. Jesus calls them to live with a mature and humble innocence.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: Our commitment to a Gospel life suffers when we become concerned with our status or importance. We ask for the humble courage to embrace a sacred innocence sustained by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit – Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord
Thought:
“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
Lavish Mercy 