Category: Courage

Learning to Say Goodbye

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Faith, Hope, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
May 24, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052423.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus and Paul continue to teach us how to say goodbye.

I think most big goodbyes are pretty hard. Even if we’re not completely in love with our situation, we might still be comfortable in it. We don’t want to make the effort to change or to disconnect from the dailyness to which we are accustomed.

And when we are in love with our situation – with the people and activities that give us life – then goodbyes can be brutal. These kinds of goodbyes are often unchosen, unwelcome, and disorienting.

We can all recall scores of goodbyes we have either chosen or been forced to say. Most of them, I think, are a mix of the two descriptions above – a little bit of sugar and a little bit of vinegar.

One of the many goodbyes I remember came after I had lived in and taught at a lovely parish for over a decade. Our convent was blessed with a wonderful community of sisters. We loved our generous pastors, our welcoming parishioners, and the engaging neighborhood around us. I loved my students and the work I did with them. I loved the sisters I lived with. We recognized our blessings and often quipped to one another that we were living in our “Golden Years”.

But after eleven years, I knew it was time for something different in my life, A call to a new ministry emerged in my heart and that was exciting. But the leave-taking still cut like a razor.

That story has repeated itself several times in my life with different settings and different casts of characters. And I know the same thing is true in each of your lives. When we pause to reflect on all those goodbyes, we may realize that each led to an unimagined hello – hellos that offered us new graces to deepen our lives.

In our readings today, Jesus and Paul stand on that fragile beam which leads from goodbye to hello. Their disciples stand there with them, so both Jesus and Paul make every effort to help them balance themselves to step into the future.

Paul does it like this:

Be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day,
I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears.
And now I commend you to God
and to that gracious word of his that can build you up
and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.

Acts 20:31-32

Jesus does it with a prayer:

Holy Father, keep them in your name
that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.

John 17:11-13

Today, we may want to spend a little time with Jesus and Paul looking back over the long beam of our lives, thanking God for the graces that poured from our many goodbyes and hellos.

Poetry: In My Dreams – Stevie Smith

In my dreams I am always saying goodbye and riding away,
Whither and why I know not nor do I care.
And the parting is sweet and the parting over is sweeter,
And sweetest of all is the night and the rushing air.

In my dreams they are always waving their hands and saying goodbye,
And they give me the stirrup cup and I smile as I drink,
I am glad the journey is set, I am glad I am going,
I am glad, I am glad, that my friends don’t know what I think.

Music: Every Goodbye Is Hello – Andrew Lippi from the musical “John and Jen”

There’s a wonderful place
Just waiting for you
There are wonderful things
You’ll get to do
Out there, somewhere, the world
And all its wonders
One small step is all it takes to know
Every goodbye is hello
There’s a magical phrase

I’ll tell it to you
Always honor the old
But live for the new
Out there, somewhere

About to be discovered
Trust yourself and
each new day will show
How every goodbye is hello
I will always be near

To hear of all the things you’ll be
Everyone needs a home to return to
And you can turn to me
There’s a time in our

lives when we will know
(There’s a time in our
lives when we will know)
There’s a time to stay home
And a time to grow
Out there, somewhere, your life
And all its promise
Sometimes part of love is letting go
But every goodbye is

Welcome to the world
(Welcome to the world)
Hello

Potholes

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, spiritualityLeave a comment

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
May 13, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051323.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings can serve to remind us that Christian discipleship is not always a smooth ride. There are “potholes” — as in all of life.

Pothole 1: Rejection in Lycaonia
Paul, after being stoned, rejected and otherwise harassed, takes off for Derbe and Lystra to test the readiness of that community to receive the Gospel. There, Paul meets Timothy who would become a beloved friend and companion, traveling and ministering with Paul for the next decade.

Pothole 2: Sorry, Tim!
But the relationship starts out with a problem. Timothy’s dad was Greek and, per custom, did not have Timothy circumcised at birth. Even though the Jerusalem apostles had adjudicated circumcision as unnecessary, Paul – who had been its main critic – requires the rite for Timothy. Paul was convinced that the Jews to whom they would be preaching would reject Timothy otherwise.

Pothole 3: Rejection in Asia
They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory
because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the message in the province of Asia. (Acts 16:6)

Pothole 4: Bypassing Bithynia
When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them,
so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas. (Acts 16:7)

When we see the massive success and widespread influence of the Church today, we might think it was easy to get this whole thing started – to light the fire of faith in the early years. It wasn’t! And it’s still not easy, despite some appearances.

Jesus counseled his disciples that it would be this way, and encouraged them:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you,
‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”

John 15:18-21

That encouragement was enough for Paul and Timothy to keep going. May it be so for us, and for all who would lead the Church into the future Jesus desired for us..

Poetry: Portia Nelson, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk from The Romance of Self-Discovery

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.

Music: just for some pothole fun today – I Love My Juggernaut – an Irish lorry driven bemoans the pothole problem. Lyrics below.

This is an enjoyable Irish song highlighting a long-standing pothole problem in Cavan, a small city near the border with Northern Ireland. The town is located on the junction of two national routes, the N3 to Dublin and N55 to Athlone. Until recently there was no bypass around Cavan town to eliminate the heavy traffic passing through an already congested town –thus, the legendary pothole problem!

Oh believe it or believe it not, I love me Juggernaut !!
I’ve been all over Ireland, to the North I’ve seen the lot.
I’m hauling great big bales of hay, I’m heading for Mayo.
With potholes all through Cavan, sure I’ll have to drive so slow.

In the morning I’m up early on the road at half past five.
The air is fresh and crispy boy it’s great to be alive.
I fall in behind a crawler put me foot down on the gas.
But the roads are to bumpy for me Juggernaut to pass.

Chorus

Oh believe it or believe it not i love me Juggernaut !!
I’ve been all over Ireland, to the North I’ve seen the lot.
I’m hauling great big bales of hay, I’m heading for Mayo.
With potholes all through Cavan, sure i’ll have to drive so slow.

(Johnny) “Breaker, Breaker, I’m looking for a copy”
(Richie) “10/4…This is big Rich’ come back”
(Johnny) “Ah, this is your auld pal Johnny”
(Richie) “A, Johnny what’s your 20”

I’m in the County Offaly and I’m awfully sorry now.
I broke the mirrors of me cab and I’d like to tell you how.
With sceachs, bows and bushes rubbing of me load.
I wish the county council would trim along the road.

Chorus

Oh believe it or believe it not I love me Juggernaut !!
I‘ve been all over Ireland, to the North I’ve seen the lot.
I’m hauling great big bales of hay, I’m heading for Mayo.
With potholes all through Cavan, sure I’ll have to drive so slow.

(Richie) “Come back Johnny, come back”

Some people call us Juggernaut’s, Artic’s or big trucks.
Some people even give us horrid dirty looks.
I know you’ve got your reasons, sometimes for to frown.
But did you ever try to drive a Scania through your town.

Chorus

Oh believe it or believe it not I love me Juggernaut !!
I’ve been all over Ireland to the North, I’ve seen the lot.
I’m hauling great big bales of hay, I’m heading for Mayo.
With potholes all through Cavan, sure I’ll have to drive so slow.

(Richie) “Stay wut her Johnny, stay wut her”
(Johnny ) “That’s right, that’s the truth, rev’er on the corners”
(Richie) “And face her for Mount Leinster”

I know I swing me volvo all around your market square.
I know that you think lorry drivers we just don’t care.
But the streets are so narrow, built so many years ago.
They were built for horses carts, not juggernauts you know.

Chorus

Oh believe it or believe it not I love me juggernaut!!
I’ve been all over Ireland, to the North I’ve seen the lot.
I’m hauling great big bales of hay, I’m heading for Mayo.
With potholes all through Cavan, sure I’ll have to drive so slow.

(Richie) “Come back Johnny, come back, we’ll leave the last one to you”

I’m in the County Offaly and I’m awfully sorry now.
I broke the mirrors off me cab and I’d like to tell you how.
With sceachs, bows and bushes the council will not cut.
When I get back to the depot, the boss will do his nut.
Oh when I get back to the depot, the boss will do his nut.

Nothing Can Harm You

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Eastertide, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality3 Comments

Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter
May 9, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050923.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, the stone-throwers finally get to Paul, but their acted-out fear is ineffective:

In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium
arrived and won over the crowds. 
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him,
he got up and entered the city. 
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Acts 14:19-20

Paul is amazingly resilient. He just got the stuffing beaten out of him to the point of appearing DOA, but he departs on a preaching pilgrimage the very next day! So what’s the story?

I think it is unlikely that Paul just “got up and entered the city'” after the vicious assault upon him.

The supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit permeated that little Lycaonian alleyway. Note the “disciples gathered around him“. Imagine a reiki-like power eminating from these ardent believers. Visualize that power drawing Paul back to his full self in the Name of Jesus Christ.

We believers today are not unlike those gathered disciples. I’ll bet every one of us, after some devasting blow to our spirit, has had our heart put back by someone who loved and believed in us.

And I hope that every one of us has been that person who gathers with the fallen, failed, and frustrated to lift and remind them of Love’s Promise to those who believe.

That’s the kind of community Jesus wants us to be, drawing our strength for it from his awesome promise in today’s Gospel:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’

John 14:27-28

Jesus faced a very dismal future as he finished these consoling words at the Last Supper. Judas had already gone out to pursue his dark agenda. Jesus knew what would come next:

And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

John 14:29-31

We will face our own Gethsemane’s as we try to live and to share Gospel Truth. Sometimes, our lights will dim from both internal and external shadows. But Jesus has anointed us with his profound assurance that God, Creator-Redeemer-Spirit, hovers over us in eternal rekindling.

Poetry: The Peace of Wild Things – Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Music: My Peace I Give Unto You

This Day I Have Begotten You

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality5 Comments

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
May 5, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050523.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings again draw our hearts to the power of the Resurrection to transform our lives.

The passage from Acts gives us the first half of Paul’s sermon in Pisidian Antioch, to a gathering of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul, who did not know Christ before the Resurrection, calls on the witness of the original disciples who shared earthly ministry with Jesus:

For even though (the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders) 
found no grounds for a death sentence,
they asked Pilate to have Jesus put to death,
and when they had accomplished all that was written about him,
they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. 
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those
who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. 
These are now his witnesses before the people.

Acts 13:28-31

These witnesses attest to the primordial element of our faith:

Jesus Christ conquered death
and, in doing so,
gave all of us
the gift of eternal life in him.

This amazing truth is not something outside or distant from us. This truth is the core of our lives in faith. By believing it, remembering it, calling its dynamism into our dailyness, we are endowed with the power of God to live beyond death even in the midst of it.

In the life of my religious community, spring is always a time of Jubilee – a time to acclaim God’s rejuvenation of nature and life.

Just after Easter, we capture Alleluia grace to celebrate our sisters and their decades of fidelity. These Silver, Golden and Diamond years unfold in a perpetual wave from the time of Catherine McAuley. At Jubilee, we bathe in their awesome and unwordable grace. Last Friday evening, we held this year’s celebration, one bursting with the sentiments of “L’chiam” – To Life!

But just on that same Friday afternoon, one of our venerable sisters had died after living over 70 years in Mercy. I know the contrasting emotions struck many of us in our jubilant chapel. These feelings became even more evident as we read the back cover of our program naming all those Jubilarians who had preceded us to heaven.

Will we all meet in heaven?

O what joy even to think of it.

Catherine McAuley: Letter to Teresa White February 3, 1841

And that, my dear friends, is the key word: HEAVEN – another word for the eternal life given us in the Resurrected Christ. We don’t always realize it but, through Easter grace, we are living in heaven right now. Death, transformed forever in Jesus, is the unmasking which allows our full realization.

This is what Jesus conveyed to his disciples in today’s Gospel. Don’t be afrain of anything – not even death. I am already completely with you.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. 
You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”

John 14:1-4

In Greek, the phrase for “do not be troubled” ( ταρασσεσθω – tar-as’-so) pertains particularly to the dread of death natural to the human condition. This is the fear that Jesus wishes to alleviate for his disciples, especially as he moves into the Paschal event.

He wishes to soothe that fear in us as well. We have the inifinite assurance of eternal life. When we face death, the loss of friends, or the overwhelming weight of the passing years, we can reach through any heaviness to that Resurrecting Light. By the life-giving invitation of Christ, we – and all whom we ever love – are already residents in the mansion of God.

Alleluia – Jubilate

The Jubilarian celebrants, most in the video above, are:

75 years: Sister Mary Jude DiSciascio, Sister Mary Klock, Sister Eileen Trinity

70 years: Sister Maryann Burgoyne, Sister Maria Madonna Johnson, Sister Joanne McIlhenney, Sister Rosemary Powers

60 years: Sister Sara Anne Condart, Sister Maureen Crissy, Sister Georgia Greene, Sister LaVerne Marie King, Sister Patricia Leipold, Sister Dorothea Maholland, Sister Mary Mulholland, Sister Beverly Palumbo, Sister Benvinda Ann Pereira, Sister Elaine Schaeffer, Sister Monica Sheehy, Sister Bonita Marie Smith, Sister Renee Yann

50 Golden Years: Maureen Roe, Terry Saetta, Susan Walsh and Regina Ward.

Poetry: Near Sunset on the Shore – Renee Yann, RSM


Four o’clock, life’s waning autumn afternoon;
daylight spent against the salted sea.
Tide, this moment, turns to imperceptible ebb.
Evening imagines its own midnight, indigo.

Same shore; same horizon. Only
sky, drunk deep, betrays change.
Jigger of sunset, rubied brandy,
introduced to unintoxicated day.

Now come the memories, wave
upon wave, inviting immersion. Now come
the lingering hopes, vortex of longing for
all that has or might have been loved.

Now in near-dusk, understanding,
feeble at first, then determined.
Can so little really have mattered?
Can the one truth simply have been

riveted presence, moment by moment,
to pain and to joy; fascination, ennui?
Has Sacred Fire smoldered so long
In such innocent ashes?

The question, or is it the answer, hovers and stills.
Sweet, purple evening rises like smoke from the embers
Of the inessential and shorn. Once, some distant morning,
hearts were set to this moment in brilliant, unproven vows.

The ocean of years, in hypnotic cadence,
Allowed, then rescinded, distraction.
Now, under its waves, tenacious and constant,
deep diving down in the luminous darkness of God.

Music: Divine Mystery – Heather Houston (lyrices below)

Oh I am opening up for a dance with Divine Mystery
Oh I am trusting the path that’s unfolding before me with ease

Just let go now, trust the flow
Just let go now, then you’ll know

Right on time now, I’ve arrived
Right on time now, I’m aligned

The Narrow Gate

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Eastertide, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, repentance, spirituality2 Comments

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043023.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus tells us the he is “the gate”. If he were here, preaching to us in person today, the symbol wouldn’t work as well as it did in his own time. In the countryside of the Gospels, there were gates all over the place protecting flocks from the multiple threats around them.

But my guess is that you haven’t seen one of these things recently or likely EVER.

So what have we seen that might bring home the essence of the Gospel to us? I’ll tell you what came to my mind.

On occasion, we buy bulk candy for our Sisters at our nursing facility. The candy factory has been around for decades and, as in some neighborhoods of the old city, the area surrounding it has become a residential and commercial desert. With that isolation, the property has become unsafe, an unfortunate target for thieves and vandals.

And so the site has been fortified – metal shields, wired windows, old sealed doors. Just try to get inside without the right directions, information, invitation or credentials! See that little red door about the middle of the photo? It doesn’t open for everyone! You have to know the way to get to the sweets inside!

Jesus is telling us that the same thing is true for those seeking salvation. There is only one way, and it is through Jesus – the Gate.

Jesus refers to this symbol frequently so he must be pretty serious about it!

Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate
and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Strive to enter through the narrow door.
For many, I tell you, will seek to enter
and will not be able.

Luke 13:24

Today’s readings remind us about just how serious Jesus is. The folks in Jerusalem, hearing Peter and scared for their complicity in the Crucifixion, want to get directions for passage through the Gate. Peter tells them:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

In his letter today, Peter tells us that repentance translates to imitation of Christ in our lives

If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

1 Peter 2:20-22

In our Gospel, Jesus says that the Gate is available to everyone, but only through him:

I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.

John 19:7-8

Bottom line? How do I pass through the Gate to the richness inside?

  • Believe
  • Repent – Turn from anything that blocks me from living the Gospel
  • Imitate Christ in my own life

Poetry: A Gate – Donna Mancini – the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant. She is a professor of English at Hunter College. The poem portrays the poet ,at a spiritually vulnerable time in her life, seeking the Gate to peace.

I have oared and grieved,
grieved and oared,
treading a religion
of fear. A frayed nerve.
A train wreck tied to the train
of an old idea.
Now, Lord, reeling in violent
times, I drag these tidal
griefs to this gate.
I am tired. Deliver
me, whatever you are.
Help me, you who are never
near, hold what I love
and grieve, reveal this green
evening, myself, rain,
drone, evil, greed,
as temporary. Granted
then gone. Let me rail,
revolt, edge out, glove
to the grate. I am done
waiting like some invalid
begging in the nave.
Help me divine
myself, beside me no Virgil
urging me to shift gear,
change lane, sing my dirge
for the rent, torn world, and love
your silence without veering 
into rage.

Music: Shepherd Me – Ann Sweeten

Living the Gospel

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, justice, spiritualityLeave a comment

Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
April 25, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042523.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, on the feast of St. Mark, our readings instruct and nourish us on how to live the Gospel.

As devout lovers of the Gospel, we have heard this phrase a thousand times: “the Gospel according to Mark…”.

But who was this “Mark”, and how was he motivated to become one of the four Evangelists who have given the Gospel to the ages?

According to Eusebius of Caesarea (260-339 A.D.), Herod Agrippa I, in his first year of reign over the whole of Judea (AD 41), killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, planning to kill him after the Passover. Peter was saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the realm of Herod (Acts 12:1–19). Peter went to Antioch, then through Asia Minor (visiting the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, as mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1), and arrived in Rome in the second year of Emperor Claudius (AD 42). Somewhere on the way, Peter encountered Mark and took him as travel companion and interpreter. Mark the Evangelist wrote down the sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark, before he left for Alexandria in the third year of Claudius (AD 43).

Wikipedia on the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius

Peter dictating the Gospel to Mark
This finely-carved ivory from the 7th century
is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Our first reading from Peter’s letters gives us an intimate insight into the conversations between Peter and Mark as they traveled those roads in Asia Minor. These were real people reflecting on their call to preach the Gospel to all the world:

Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:

God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.

So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.

1 Peter :5-7

While Peter offers these words for the sake of the churches in Asia Minor, picture him sitting only with Mark as Mark diligently scribes Peter’s words. Mark is a young man, maybe still a teenager. His heart is fired with the story of Jesus to the point that he has left his home to travel and learn from this one man who was closest to Jesus himself.

Peter’s stories burn into Mark’s soul and inspire him. Eventually, his own preaching and discipleship will carry the Gospel to the church of Alexandria years after Peter has died, and to us through the written word he inspired.

Our devout and consistent prayer and study of the scriptures allows us to be transformed by that same Sacred Fire – the power of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost. We, too, can sit beside Peter and Mark and learn from their ardent spirituality.

Dr. Mary Healy is professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. She is a general editor of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture and author of two of its volumes, The Gospel of Mark and Hebrews. She says this:

What we have not fully taken into account is the first evangelisation – the explosive growth of Christianity in the ancient world, when a handful of fishermen, tax collectors, and ordinary people turned the world upside down for Christ, even while undergoing waves of state-sanctioned persecution.

The beginnings of that story are told in the New Testament, and it’s there that we find the secret to becoming the missionary disciples we are called to be.

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:15-18

I think that most of us, when we read today’s Gospel, do not see ourselves standing with the Eleven, receiving the ability to “cast out demons, …speak new languages,… handle serpents, … and drink poison…”.

But think about it:

  • How are we called to respond with Gospel grace when we encounter the demon of injustice in our world?
  • How are we called to speak new languages of peace, kindness, and respect for human life in a culture that has normalized violence and deception?
  • How are we called to handle and confront meanness, prejudice, gossip, and hatred when these slither like snakes into our conversations and opinions?
  • How do we help ourselves and others recognize and avoid the poisons of a dishonest and manipulative culture when they threaten our familial, economic, political, educational, religious, and medicinal constructs?

Indeed, we are called to love, learn and live the Gospel in our own particular time and circumstances — just like Mark and Peter were. Let’s pray with them today and ask them to strengthen us in a courageous response to that glorious call.

Poetry: Mark – a sonnet by Malcolm Guite

A wingèd lion, swift, immediate
Mark is the gospel of the sudden shift
From first to last, from grand to intimate,
From strength  to weakness, and from debt to gift,
From a wide deserts haunted emptiness
To a close city’s fervid atmosphere,
From a voice crying in the wilderness
To angels in an empty sepulcher.
And Christ makes the most sudden shift of all;
From swift action as a strong Messiah
Casting the very demons back to hell
To slow pain, and death as a pariah.
We see our Saviour’s life and death unmade
And flee his tomb dumbfounded and afraid.

Music: My God, I Love Thee from St. Mark Passion by Charles Wood (lyrics below)

My God, I love Thee: not because
I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not 
Are lost eternally.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me 
Upon the Cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails, and spear, 
And manifold disgrace,

And griefs and torments numberless, 
And sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself; and all for me
Who wast Thine enemy.
Then why, most loving Jesus Christ, 
Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven, 
Or of escaping hell;
Not from the hope of gaining aught, 
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself has lovèd me,
O ever­loving Lord?
So do I love Thee, and will love, 
Who such a love hast showed Only because 
Thou art my King, 
Because Thou art my God

… that you believe…

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, spirituality, Truth2 Comments

Monday of the Third Week of Easter
April 24, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042423.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings remind us that being a Christian is simple, but not easy.

Stephen, presented to us in our reading from Acts, must have been a beautiful, simple person — almost angelic according to Acts’ description:

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.

Acts 6:8

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 6:15

St. Stephen – Giacomo Cavedone – c. 1601

Despite his goodness, Stephen became an object of hate and persecution by many:

Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Then they instigated some men to say,
“We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.”

Acts 6:9-11

This is such a revealing passage! Stephen’s persecutors cannot challenge his preaching themselves, so they create a web of poisonous lies and entangle some other men in its venom. They instigate these men to spread false allegations against Stephen which will eventually lead to his martyrdom.

There is a vital lesson here for us. Truth matters. Lies matter. They are the engines that drive not only our relationships and actions, but our very culture. And a hard look at our modern culture suggests that we are becoming a culture of lies.

I don’t need to give examples here. We know just from glancing at the newspaper, or perhaps – unfortunately – from reflecting on our own experiences.

We know the people who pretend they are what they are not.

We know who pretends that they are not what they actually are.

Jesus is a Truth Teller. In our Gospel, he gently confronts a bunch of people who are “pretending” their faith. Jesus tells them they’re not so much interested in the Truth he preaches as in the food he provided just yesterday. After all, everybody loves a good picnic!

Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. 
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 

John 6: 26-27

These bread seekers in our Gospel hear Jesus’s challenge so they ask him

“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,

“This is the work of God,
that you believe in the one he sent.”

Just believe. Doing so will lead us to Truth and to a holy simplicity like that which radiated from Stephen. It’s that simple …. and that hard.

Poetry: A Christmas Hymn – by Richard Wilbur

Although the following poem is out of season, and does not mention Stephen, its refrain references his method of martyrdom: “every stone shall cry”. The poem is also a succinct and lyrical summary of the life of Christ and its meaning for us — a good thing to consider during this Eastertide.

A stable lamp is lighted
whose glow shall wake the sky;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
and straw like gold shall shine;
a barn shall harbour heaven,
a stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
shall ride in triumph by;
the palm shall strew its branches,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
though heavy, dull and dumb,
and lie within the roadway
to pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
and yielded up to die;
the sky shall groan and darken,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
for gifts of love abused;
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s blood again refused.
But now, as at the ending,
the low is lifted high;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
in praises of the child
by whose descent among us
the worlds are reconciled.

Music: Every Stone Shall Cry – Steve Bell musically interprets Wilbur’s poem.

Water and Pork Chops

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Conversion, Courage, Creation, Discipleship, Eastertide, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Second Week of Easter
April 22, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042223.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, little “disruptions” pop up in the center of both our readings.

In Acts, some of the Greek Christians think they are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to food distribution.

Believe me, I can picture the situation using personal experience. When I was an 18 year old postulant, I was a tall, skinny athlete — and I ate a lot of food. I wasn’t used to living in community, and I hadn’t noticed how my voracious appetite might be affecting those around me at the table.

In those “olden days”, the fifty-two of us freshly minted mini-nuns sat “in rank”, i.e according to age. The food was passed down the table from oldest to youngest. When I came to supper one night, the sister below me in rank had moved up a seat to be before me. I thought she just got mixed up about where her chair was so I asked her about it.

She told me she moved up in order to get a pork chop before I took them all!

Well, that’s what the Hellenists are doing in today’s reading which illustrates that living in community is a practical exercise as well as a spiritual one. That practicality calls upon us to make prudent arrangements for the community such as the disciples did in appointing more presbyters led by Stephen.

For us in our various communities today, the reading reminds us to think about the “pork chops” – who needs what and are they getting what they need. This principle holds for both spiritual and material needs and goods. Like the new presbyters, we each have a part to play in achieving that equity within our communities – including families, neighborhoods, churches, workplaces, and the world we share with all Creation.

While our Gospel event is narrated in both Matthew and Mark, John gives us his own colorful version of the story of Jesus walking on the water. John highlights the conditions of the sea and atmosphere: darkness, the gusty wind, a turbulent ocean, and the absence of Jesus from the boat:

When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea,
embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum.
It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

John 6:16-18

So John makes it clear that it was the customary “dark and scary night“. But the disciples, tossed in the tumult, never express fear until they see Jesus walking across the water toward them. It seems they are less afraid of nature’s power than they are of the power of God!

Jesus sees their fear and tells them not to be afraid. In a phrase reminiscent of God’s self-revelation to Moses ( I am Who am), Jesus simply says, “It is I” — I am God. I am with you. Do not be afraid.

The disciples are still a little nervous and seem to prefer a less omnipotent Jesus . They ask him to get into the boat (in other words, “Be normal – not a Water-Walker”). But Jesus ignores the invitation and simply transports the boat to shore. One might picture the Twelve, tossed up on the shore, mouths agape and beginning to realize that their whole world was being turned upside-down in Christ!

Maybe we’re a little bit like the disciples sometimes. Sometimes we like God in small doses – not in a brilliant revelation or an irresistible call. Jesus snoozing beside us in the boat is comfortable. A radiant God coming to us in our life’s storms is a little harder to adjust to.

Our readings today remind us that God is present in every aspect of our lives – the daily practicalities and the topsy-turvy revelations. God may sit beside us in the boat, or might drag us stunned into another graced shore. But we should not be afraid in any case. Just prayerfully listen for the assurance, “It is I!”

Poetry: Walking on Water – Mark Jarmon

       Always the same message out of Matthew.
The water Jesus walks on is life’s turbulence.
        He calms our trouble and lifts us up again.

To walk on water? That’s what’s puzzling—
        that feat of antimatter, defeat of physics,
those beautiful unshod feet of cosmic truth

        for whom the whole performance is child’s play.
And unless one becomes as a little child
        the kingdom’s inaccessible by any route.

That water, then, its broken surface tension,
        collision of fracturing waves, apparent chaos,
its fractals turning infinite and weaving

        the netted skin between worlds, that web
of light and gravity which underpins our faith,
        water, a substance, stormy or pacific,

we know a myriad ways to get across it.
        But simply walking on it? Literally?
How far do you think you’d go before you fell

        through that convergence between time and space?
The water Jesus walked on wasn’t water
        only. It was the storm that made it rock.

Music: Walk on Water – Elevation Rhythm

A Good Heart, an “Easter-ed Heart”

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, Gospel, spirituality3 Comments

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
April 20, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042023.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, the post-Resurrection Apostles continue their unstoppable testimony to Jesus Christ. Their persistence “infuriates” the Sanhedrin who fear the blood of Christ being called down upon them!

“We gave you strict orders did we not,
to stop teaching in that name.
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
But Peter and the Apostles said in reply,
“We must obey God rather than men. 
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Acts 5: 28-33

There is an interesting play in the words and concepts of this reading from Acts.

  • While the Sanhedrin are infuriated, or filled with the fire of denial and sin, the Apostles are inflamed with the unquenchable Fire of the Holy Spirit.
  • While the Sanhedrin fear the blood of Christ called down upon them, the disciples hearts are transformed by its power.

The contrast in their responses to God’s Word is stunning.

In our Gospel, John captures this contrast in a nutshell:

The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly
and speaks of earthly things.

John 3:31

In other words, those transformed in the power of the Resurrection see the world with God’s eyes — “from above”. Those unconverted by that Power still see the world in godlessness.

Our Gospel calls us to be like the disciples not like the Sanhedrin.  It calls us to open our hearts:

  • to see the Truth Who is Jesus Christ
  • to believe that the Truth of his Resurrection lives in us
  • to become that Truth through the witness of our lives.

The Gospel calls us to live a whole-hearted faith which allows the Holy Spirit to be expressed in every aspect of our lives. Jesus does not ration the gift of the Spirit, nor should we:

Whoever does accept Christ’s testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.

John 3:33-34

How do we live such a life of Christian witness? Do we have to shout the witness out loud with every action of our lives?  I don’t think so.

Brother David Steindl-Rast describes believers like this:

People who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves to a rushing river. They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it. Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.

And the great St. Teresa of Avila blesses believers with this prayer:

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Poetry: Little Summer Poem Touching The Subject Of Faith by Mary Oliver

Every summer
I listen and look 
under the sun’s brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can’t hear

anything, I can’t see anything — 
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green 
stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker — 
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk. 

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing — 
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves, 

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet — 
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum. 

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear? 

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn’s beautiful body
is sure to be there.

Music: A Good Heart – Marc Enfroy

Impossible Not to Speak the Name

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, Gospel, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Saturday in the Octave of Easter
April 15, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041523.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, the reasonable Sanhedrin try to deal with Peter and John’s “bold” testimony for Christ.

Observing the boldness of Peter and John
and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,
and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.
Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,
they could say nothing in reply.

Acts 4: 13-14

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of elders or rabbis appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Israel. As a body, they claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have. As such, they were the only ones who could try the king, extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem, and were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put.

from Wikipedia

Peter Before the Sanhedrin by Nikolai Ge (1892)

These men existed on the ultimate power they had over the people. It was the source of their influence, wealth and independence. Now this Jesus and his bold buddies come along trying to upset the apple cart. The old familiar, comfortable world is threatened and they don’t like it.

Their solution is overly simplistic. They tell Peter and John to just shut up:

The Sanhedrin conferred with one another, saying,
“What are we to do with these men?
Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign
was done through them, and we cannot deny it.
But so that it may not be spread any further among the people,
let us give them a stern warning
never again to speak to anyone in this name.”
So they called them back
and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4: 15-17

Peter and John say “sorry guys”! Easter-inspired faith doesn’t work that way:

Peter and John, however, said to them in reply,
“Whether it is right in the sight of God
for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.
It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:18

Peter and John make it sound simple too, don’t they. They tell us that it is impossible not to live our witness to the Gospel.

But I think we all know that it’s not that simple. Witnessing our faith in a morally complex world takes courage, insight, humility and wisdom. 

We are not passive participants in the often crippled world around us. Like Peter and John, we are called to pay attention to suffering, and to be healers. We are called to be witnesses to the Resurrection by the faithful generosity of our lives.

Prose: Marianne Williamson – from A Return to Love

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 
It is our light not our darkness that frightens us. 
We ask ourselves 'who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. 
You’re playing small doesn't serve the world. 
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking 
so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; its in everyone. 
And as we let our own light shine, 
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others

Music: Speak the Name – Koryn Hawthorne 

Extra Song: I can’t help thinking of — Perry Como singing “Impossible”. Of course, this is a romantic song, but the same principles hold in our devotion to God, and God’s to us. Think about it 🙂