Category: Community

Lady

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Discipleship, Truth1 Comment

Friday, November 16, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111618.cfm

Today, in Mercy, our first reading is from John’s very brief second epistle.

This is a fascinating passage. It is addressed to “Kyria”, Greek for “Lady”. The contents encourage this revered lady to keep herself and her household true to Christ.

Reading the passage, one wonders who “Kyria” is. At least three theories exist among scholars:

  • an actual religious leader 
  • a metaphor for the Church 
  • Mary, Mother of Jesus

The letter is beautifully personal in tone, so I like to think that Kyria was, indeed, an influential church leader and John’s beloved friend. So often, the names of early Christian women leaders are lost to history. Whether they were omitted in the original texts, or erased by subsequent misogynistic translators, we can only surmise. But the absence has served to support the misperception that women are of lesser consequence in the Church.

As we read 2 John, we can be aware of the major themes he entrusted to dear “Kyria”, whoever she might have been, to be transmitted to her household:

  • Truth is expressed through love, modeled to us in Jesus.
  • Obedience to God is expressed through service in His name.
  • Guard against any who distract you from these teachings.

Music: Kyria (Lady) is the feminine form of Kyrie , as in “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).

So the music I thought of for today is the magnificent Kyrie Eleison from Charles Gounod’s Mass for St. Cecilia.

Peel the Onion

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Thursday, November 15, 2018

 Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, Jesus tells us a secret:

“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

And it remains a bit of a secret, even after He tells it, because it is often very hard to discern the “Kingdom among us”. There is nothing more invisible than something hiding in plain sight.

Lk17_21JPG

Through prayer, we discover that it is about our eyes – not visibility. It is about the power of grace within us to see beyond appearances. We need a soul that can “peel the onion” of experience to find the face of God resident within all things.

  • With that kind of eyes, you don’t just have a business meeting today.
    You have an opportunity to build God’s Kingdom through respect, encouragement and mutuality.
  • You don’t just pass a person begging on the corner.
    You walk near Christ himself accompanying a broken spirit.
  • You don’t just encounter the hurts and challenges of your life.
    You are invited by God into a living faith that finds his will in all things.
  • You don’t live in the world with just other creatures.
    You meet and honor the Divine Presence in every living thing.

Indeed, the Kingdom of God is right here among us.

May we see it!
May we treasure it!
May we reveal it!

Music:  Let Your Kingdom Come – Tommy Walker

 

Increase Our Faith

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Faith2 Comments

Monday, November 12, 2019

Click here for Readings

Lk17_5

Today, in Mercy,  we commemorate the Feast of St. Josaphat, not one of your common household saints. I actually never heard the name used, except for the expression “Jumpin’ Josaphat” (commonly invoked by Robin in the Batman series, in case you require documentation. 😀)

But Josaphat was quite a Saint. A deeply devout and holy monk, he lived in 16th century Lithuania, then part of the Polish Kingdom. At that time, the political variabilities of Europe were firmly intertwined with the bureaucracy of the Church, both Roman and Orthodox. This led to civic power struggles masquerading as religious conflicts.

Through the Union of Brest, the bishops who lived within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth voted to unite with Rome. Many people were not happy with this decision – to the point of riots and mob violence. Josaphat worked tirelessly to realize this union and ultimately paid with his life at the hands of such a mob.

Even today we find, within the Church, divisions driven by politics and power clashes. Often expressed as the desire for ritual purity and historical rectitude, they cloak the fear and inability to grow in grace and mutuality.

We see these kinds of struggles in the factions trying to undermine Pope Francis. We can recognize them by their criticism without charity, their pronouncements without dialogue, and their own controlling hierarchies.

In our first reading, Paul writes to Titus who shepherds the nascent Church in Crete. Paul instructs him on the best ways to build a worshipping community without these infighting flaws.

In our Gospel, Jesus instructs the disciples on sin, repentance and forgiveness — all of which we encounter within the struggling community of faith. Hearing him, the  disciples immediately realize what it is they most need to engage the challenges before them:

Lord, increase our faith!

Let us join their prayer today for unity and love in the Christian Churches.

Music:  Increase Our Faith – David Haas

But God Does Notice

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy2 Comments

Sunday, November 11, 2018

 Click here for readings.

Today, in Mercy, we learn lessons from widows – those whose place in biblical times was uncertain and frightening. Without a husband, a woman experienced diminished standing in the legal, financial and political life of the community. 

Mk12_44 miteJPG

She was often dependent on charity, and was deemed fortunate to capture a bit of good will from those in better circumstances. 

There are several examples of widows being blessed by miracles, because they were among those most in need of them.

In today’s first reading and in the Gospel, we meet two widows displaying amazing charity and character strength.  The widow of Zarephath steadfastly prepares for death because she has nothing left to live on. When Elijah asks to share in her last few cornmeal cakes, she does not hesitate to feed him.

In our Gospel, it is significant that, just across the road from the well-stocked treasury, a nearly penniless widow gives her last coins to the poor.

In Elijah’s account, we learn the outcome of the widow’s generosity.  She reaps an abundant reward in perpetual flour and oil to sustain her.

We never learn what happens to Jesus’s widow. We are left to imagine that, in some way, her selflessness is rewarded.

It is so hard to give it all to God, especially if we feel we have little left for ourselves.  It is hard to give our love when we feel empty-hearted.  It is hard to give care when we feel unappreciated.  It is hard to assist others when we ourselves are exhausted. It is hard to do good if no one, not even God, seems to notice.

But God does notice.  Like Jesus on that long-ago afternoon, God is watching as we empty our coffers in service and care for the poor, sick, troubled and lost.

What we have to give may be small — a single corn cake or two little coins. It is the act of giving it that is large — and will make our hearts large by the choice.

One this date in 1841, Catherine McAuley, the first Sister of Mercy, died. She had given everything she had — a fortune actually.. and a life — for God’s poor and needy.  Let’s call on her to inspire us to greater charity and mercy. God knows we need to do something for this aching world!

Music:: Matthew West – Do Something

God Knows Our Hearts

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Church, Community, Discipleship, Eternal Life, justice, Mercy1 Comment

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Click here for readings

Lk 16_45 knows heart

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Memorial of Pope St. Leo the Great.  He was a remarkable 5th century leader who consolidated essential elements of theology and administration for the yet emerging Church.

Our first reading today reflects Paul doing the same thing in the very early days of Christianity.  His ministry throughout the Mediterranean basin guided early Christians as the Church planted its first harvest.

Paul lets us know that this ministry of leadership is not easy – that he relies on the good will of the communities he serves:

You were, of course, concerned about me but lacked an opportunity.
Not that I say this because of need,
for I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself,
to be self-sufficient.

Paul seems to refer specifically to material help,  but certainly he values even more the spiritual and moral loyalty of his followers.

In our Gospel, Jesus offers us a sermonette that can, at first, seem a little confusing. His tone, as he speaks to a group of Pharisees, is somewhat ironic. But his bottomline message is this: loyalty to God, not to material things.

The thread running through all these passages?  The work of the Church needs both our spiritual and material loyalty to thrive  – whether in Paul’s time, or Christ’s, or our own.

The Pharisees pretended such loyalty, but Jesus challenged them:

You justify yourselves in the sight of others,
but God knows your hearts …

A sobering challenge against which to measure ourselves!

Music: Thank You for Giving to the Lord _ Ray Boltz

We Are God’s Temple

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Hope1 Comment

Friday, November 9, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110918.cfm

psalm46 stream

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.  It’s a big deal feast and, as a young religious, I never really understood why. I thought to myself, “It’s a building, right? Why are we celebrating a building.” As I matured, I learned. 

Perhaps some of you are familiar with Ken Follett’s book “The Pillars of the Earth”. Or perhaps others of you have visited the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. You may have been, as I was, overwhelmed at the sheer enormity and span of these cathedral-building endeavors which reflect our desire to enshrine God.

What is it in us, as human beings, that will move us to give lifetimes and centuries to capturing God? What is it in us that will try to concretize our awe at the Almighty?

It was just such an inner drive that motivated the builders of the Lateran, the oldest and highest ranking of the four major basilicas in Rome.  This “temple of stones” was understood by its builders to represent the living Church – you and me, who together are built up by Christ into his own Body.

What kind of  temple are we, sisters and brothers – we who are all too aware now of the cracks in our structure? 

We are, as Ezekiel visions and the psalmist confirms in today’s readings, a temple fed by the life waters of God.

Our Gospel shows that Jesus knew and believed this. He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem of its weaknesses. He then compared it to his own body, which is the true dwelling place of grace among us. He asked us to imitate him in the way we treasure and live our lives in this world because we too are Temples of God’s Grace.

A living fountain of grace flows through this living temple. God is in our midst as we build, and rebuild, the Church – brick by human brick.

May this feast renew our hope for our Church, cause us to call upon God for deeper courage, and witness to all the enduring power of faith.

Music:  We Are God’s People – Fred Bock

This is a recently written hymn with an old time kind of sound. 

English hymn text writer, Bryan Jeffery Leech, took the primary theme from Johannes Brahms’ 1st Symphony, 4th movement and wrote lyrics which have become a hymn standard. We Are God’s People is a majestic statement befitting Brahm’s regal theme. Allan Robert Petker has created an anthem setting and has intertwined many of the other themes that Brahms utilized in his 1st symphony.

Come to the Feast!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, Eternal Life4 Comments

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, we are back at “the banquet” – that divine communion where we are all one in God – even the poor, crippled, lame and blind from yesterday’s reading.

Lk14_15 dine kingdom

But there’s a little different twist to this story.  This time, we are the ones invited, but we fail to attend due to multiple bogus excuses:

  • we’ve gotten married
  • we bought a cow
  • we bought a field
  • we bought not one, but FIVE yoke of oxen

You get the gist… all those preoccupying duties that keep us bound. Not to make a pun, but, Holy Cow, given all my responsibilities, how could I ever make it to “the banquet”!

The truth is that what keeps us from “the banquet” is fear:

  • fear that we might be associated with Jesus
  • fear to sit at the same table with his motley companions 
  • fear that some loyalty might be demanded of us

and the basis of all fears –

  • that we aren’t good enough, holy enough,
    strong enough to be what Jesus desires.

Oh, Friends, let us not be deterred by fear or any other preoccupation from the invitation of a lifetime! Let us approach the table of God with a humble and open heart. God has the banquet garment ready for us. The celebration is ready. All we have to do is sit down and listen to the Divine Music. The rest will come. We will learn how to dance with God.

Music: Dancing with God – sung by Briege O’Hare, OSC,  based on the writings of Mechthild of Magdeburg, a Beguine and Christian medieval mystic whose book Das fließende Licht der Gottheit (The Flowing Light of Divinity) described her visions of God.

I cannot dance, O Lord, unless you lead me
And if you want me to leap for joy,
Then you must be the first to dance and to sing
And I will follow you; in their echo I will ring.

Then, only then,
Then, only then,
Then, only then, will I leap for joy!

I cannot sing, O Lord, unless you lead me
And if you want me to sing for joy,
Then you must be the first to sing out your song
And I will follow you and sing right along.

Then, only then,
Then, only then,
Then, only then, will I sing for joy!

Lead me Lord in your joyful dancing.
I will follow in your dance of life.
Then all my living will be true to you,
My loving God.

(Repeat Verse 1)
Leap for joy!
Will I leap for joy!

The Grace at Our Border

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Gospel, holiness, inclusivity, Jesus, justice, Mercy2 Comments

Monday, November 5, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110518.cfm

Today, in Mercy,  we continue our readings from Paul’s inspiring letter to the Philippians. Paul sincerely loves this community and wants them to be perfected in Christ. 

This is what Jesus wants for us too.  Today’s Gospel is just one example of Jesus showing his followers the way to holiness. He uses the opportunity of a dinner to remind those gathered that they are very fortunate. Their lives are like a banquet compared with the lives of those who are poor and burdened.

He suggests that his followers do what God would do:

When you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be
because of their inability to repay you….

Just such an opportunity to be blessed awaits us, in the USA, at our southern border. A wave of God’s beloved poor and besieged washes toward us. Will we meet them with true mercy and justice born out of Christian charity? Or will we confront them with a brutal show of power born of fear and alienation?

Lk14_14 banquet

Of course, there are legitimate concerns with such a large migration. But these concerns must be met with wisdom and prudence, not prejudice and vilification. This is not a horde of animals attacking us. These are human beings desperately seeking a better life.

Jesus thought that his table companions, gifted as they were by God, had the moral capacity to respond to his challenge. Can he expect the same of us?

Let’s hope so, because our Gospel closes with a very compelling reason:

“For you will be repaid
(one way or the other, I might add)
at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Music: God of the Poor – Graham Kendrick

In Prayer, Memory, and Light

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Mercy, Prayer2 Comments

Friday, November 2, 2018

Click here for Readings

Today, in Mercy, we remember the beloved Holy Souls who have gone before us. They are never far from us. Some of us may visit cemeteries today. Some will place a list of names upon the altar. But all of us will whisper their names: grandparents, parents, spouses, children, brothers, sisters and beloved friends — meeting each name in a sacred memory.

Romans6_8 All Souls

May those memories, whatever they contain, be transformed by our loving prayers. May whatever grief remains in us be blessed by the grace of faith and thanksgiving. And may the Holy Ones we honor today brighten us with some of their overwhelming Eternal Light in God.

Music: Lux Aeterna- Eternal Light – Michael Hoppé

Lux aeterna
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.

Requiem aeternam
dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord,
with Your saints forever,
for You are Mercy.

Eternal rest
give to them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May Their Memories Be A Blessing

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, justice, Mercy, suffering3 Comments

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110118.cfm

Today, in Mercy, on this Solemnity of All Saints, let us pray especially for our recent saints and martyrs – victims of hate, violence and irresponsible policy. Let us know them to be now in the arms of Love, a Love Whom we beg to heal us who remain, impelling us to true justice and mercy.

All Saints_namesJPG

As we pray, let us reflect on the following hymn for the Holy Innocents, resolving to protect sacred life in ALL its manifold ages and expressions.

1.Salvete, flores Martyrum,
In lucis ipso lumine
Quos sevus ensis messuit,
Ceu turbo nascentes rosas.

2.Vos prima Christi victima,
Grex immolatorum tener,
Aram sub ipsam simplices
Palma et coronis luditis.

3.Qui natus es de Virgine
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Cum Patre, cumque Spiritu,
In sempiterna secula.

1. Flowers of martyrdom, all hail!
Smitten by the tyrant foe
On life’s threshold – as the gale
Strews the roses ere they blow.

2. First to bleed for God, sweet lambs!
 In innocence you died!
Rising with your wreath and palms
At the very altar-side!

3. Honor, glory, virtue, merit,
Be to Thee, O Living God,
With Creator, and the Spirit
While eternal ages run. – Amen.

Music: Salvete, Flores Martyrum -Tomás Luis de Victoria · Lluis Vich