Category: Courage

Reed

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy, spirituality2 Comments

Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072024.cfm

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not contend or cry out,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.
Matthew 12:18-21 (cited from Isaiah 42:1-4

This beautiful passage, that focuses on the gentleness of the Messiah, comforts our spirits. But it also calls us to imitate that gentleness with those most in need of it.

The example Jesus offers us is not popular in our often violent world. It is hard to live in its courageous imitation. But it matters that we do.

“The modern world’s feverish struggle
for unbridled, often unlicensed, freedom
is answered by the bound, enclosed
helplessness and dependence of Christ—
Christ in the womb,
Christ in the Host,
Christ in the tomb.”

― Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God

Poetry: A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break – Christina Rossetti

I will accept thy will to do and be,
Thy hatred and intolerance of sin,
Thy will at least to love, that burns within
And thirsteth after Me:
So will I render fruitful, blessing still,
The germs and small beginnings in thy heart,
Because thy will cleaves to the better part.—
Alas, I cannot will.
Dost not thou will, poor soul? Yet I receive
The inner unseen longings of the soul,
I guide them turning towards Me; I control
And charm hearts till they grieve:
If thou desire, it yet shall come to pass,
Though thou but wish indeed to choose My love;
For I have power in earth and heaven above.—
I cannot wish, alas!
What, neither choose nor wish to choose? and yet
I still must strive to win thee and constrain:
For thee I hung upon the cross in pain,
How then can I forget?
If thou as yet dost neither love, nor hate,
Nor choose, nor wish,—resign thyself, be still
Till I infuse love, hatred, longing, will.—
I do not deprecate.

Music: A Bruised Reed by Charlie and Jill LeBlanc

Beautiful images despite a somewhat monotonous melody.

Peace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Cross, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, justice, Mercy, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
July 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071524.cfm

Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
Matthew 10:34-36

I would not have liked hearing these words from Jesus, would you? The last thing I would have ever wanted was to be set against my precious mother! So WHAT is Jesus talking about?

These words are central to Christ’s mandate to his disciples. He is telling them that they will inevitably meet painful conflict while living out his mission. Sometimes the conflict will even be within their families and among their friends.

This is because God’s Peace is not quiet indifference but the striving for just equanimity for all people. This is the sword of discipleship – we must cut ourselves away from anything that turns us from a just and merciful God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy,
We pray for graced insight that we may see where the sword is pointing in our lives, and for courage that we may do the necessary cutting to be worthy disciples and build an honest peace in our world.

Poetry: Swords Into Plowshares – Daniel Berrigan, SJ
This poem was written in response to the conviction of the Plowshares Eight, of whom Berrigan was a member, for their civil disobedience against nuclear war.

Everything enhances, everything
gives glory—everything!

Between bark and bite
Judge Salus’s undermined soul
betrays him, mutters
very alleluias.

The iron cells—
Row on row of rose trellised
Mansions, bridal chambers!

Curses, vans, keys, guards—behold
the imperial lions of our vast acres!

And when hammers come down
and our years are tossed to four winds—

why, flowers blind the eye, the saints
pelt us with flowers!

For every hour
scant with discomfort
(the mastiff’s baleful eye,
the bailiff’s mastery)—

see, the Lord’s hands heap
eon upon eon,
like fruit bowls at a feast.

Music: Go Light Your World – Chris Rice

Shake

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Hope, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint Benedict, abbot
July 11, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071124.cfm

Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it,
and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
Matthew 10: 11-14

Jesus gives his disciples a lesson on how to deal with disappointment and frustration as they spread the Gospel. Not every heart is going to be open to them. Jesus wants them to give their mission a heartfelt try. But if it meets a wall, they should not bang their head against it. Just turn around, let it go, and shake off their concern. Let it be like so much “dust in the wind”.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

All disciples of Jesus, all who sincerely live and preach the Gospel, are going to meet frustration at many points in their lives. We live in a world that is often diametrically opposed to the Beatitudes, the Magnificat, the Our Father. We live with people who cover classroom walls with the Ten Commandments while breaking every one of them in personal practice.

It can be frustrating, but Jesus says not to get caught in that frustration. Rather, he teaches, shake it off and move on to more receptive ground.

Jesus was serious about this and, in another passage, used some harsh words to make his point:

Do not give what is holy to the dogs;
nor cast your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet,
and turn and tear you in pieces.
Matthew 7:6-7

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Over the course of our lives, we will find ourselves somewhere in these passages – disciples or frustraters, pearl- givers or swine! Wherever we stand, God’s grace awaits us.

Poetry: Shake Thyself from the Dust – Mary Hoyt Loveland

Shake thyself from the dust, faint heart;
Loose thyself from bands that bind.
Thou art not Assyria’s thrall;
Captive, rise and freedom find!

Captive, this is Love’s own realm!
Lo! the very hills rejoice
That oppression is cast down;
Yea, the streams lift up their voice.

Yea, each dewy blossom glows,
Freed from error’s withering blight.
Loosed from tyranny and fear,
Captive, turn ye to the light!

Turn ye to the light, and see
That no evil can dismay,
Gathering clouds of bitterness,
Hiding harmony from day.

Turn ye to the light, faint one;
In the truth is freedom won!

Music: Dust in the Wind – by Kansas

Follow

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality4 Comments

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070524.cfm

Our Gospel today recounts the call of Matthew to be Jesus’ disciple. The master artist Caravaggio has beautifully captured that “Who me?” moment. We see the summoning hand of Jesus out of the shadows on the right. Matthew and his companion are flushed with Light. Matthew, on the left, points to his chest in the implied question, “Are you talking to me?”.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Yes, God is talking to me. Do I see God’s Presence, perhaps out of the shadowy circumstances of my life? Do I listen? What do I hear? Do I follow?.

Matthew stood right up and followed. What can we learn from him?

Poetry: The Calling of St. Matthew – James Lasdun

Not the abrupt way, frozen
In the one glance of a painter’s frame
Christ in the doorway pointing. Matthew’s face
Bright with perplexity, the glaze
Of a lifetime at the countinghouse
Cracked in the split second’s bolt of being chosen.

But over the years, slowly,
Hinted at, an invisible curve;
Persistent bias always favoring
Backwardly the relinquished thing
Over the kept, the gold signet ring
Dropped in a beggar’s bowl, the eye not fully

Comprehending the hand, not yet;
Heirloom damask thrust in a passing
Stranger’s hand, the ceremonial saddle
(Looped coins, crushed clouds of inline pearl)
Given on an irresistible
impulse to a servant. Where it sat

A saddle-shaped emptiness
Briefly, obscurely brimming … Flagons
Cellars of wine, then as impulse steadied
into habit, habit to need,
Need to compulsion, the whole vineyard
The land itself, graves, herds, the ancestral house,

Given away, each object’s
Hollowed-out void successively
More vivid in him than the thing itself,
As if renouncing merely gave
Density to having; as if
He’s glimpsed in nothingness a derelict’s

Secret of unabated,
Inverse possession … And only then,
Almost superfluous, does the figure
Step softly to the shelter door;
Casual, foreknown, almost familiar,
Calmly received, like someone long awaited.

Music: The Summons – John Bell and Graham Maule

Courage

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Faith, spirituality4 Comments

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070424.cfm

… people brought to Jesus a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

This passage describes a situation found in just a few of Jesus’s miracles. The miracle occurs because of the intervention of others, not the one in need. When Jesus sees the faith of those who carried this young man, his Infinite Mercy was moved.

It seems that perhaps the afflicted person had lost hope. It was his friends who hoped – his friends who carried him. What a gift it is to have friends who will stand by you in life’s sometimes crippling circumstances. What a blessing to have companions who see your salvation when you have lost the vision!

Acting on the faith of these steadfast friends, Jesus tells the paralytic to reach down into his soul and recover the courage that will make him whole.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to be faithful friends like the ones described in this passage. We pray in gratitude for those who are such friends to us.

Thought:

There is nothing on earth
more to be prized
than true friendship.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Music: I Will Carry You – Sean Clive

Nest

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070124.cfm

A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”
Matthew 8: 19-22

The scribe. What was Jesus driving home to this learned interpreter of the Law who now bursts with enthusiasm for discipleship? Perhaps Jesus looked up to a small nest in a nearby tree. Maybe he pointed to it and told the scribe, ” You have to spread your wings and fly with God if you follow me!”

Basically, I think Jesus is saying this:

  • Think about it. It’s a way very different from your present comfortable life.
  • We are itinerant preachers, going out to the whole world. We are not intrenched in the Law, commanding people to come to us.
  • Even the core responsibilities to which you are devoted will be secondary to your Gospel ministry.
  • The whole foundation of your life will be turned upside-down.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We want to serve God by living the Gospel with a steadfast and enthusiastic heart. We pray for the grace and courage to do so, understanding clearly where our first responsibilities lie as a committed Christian.

Prose from: The Wisdom of the Carpenter by Ron Miller

Jesus walked the earth as a homeless vagrant
and identified his disciples by their concern
for the most marginalized people in the community.
It’s such a simple criterion
and yet one so easily forgotten.
Daily Prayer: Help me to be especially attentive to You today
in those who have so little of the world’s wealth.

Music: He Had Not Where To Lay His Head
Score: Alison Willis
Text: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825 – 1911)

Read about her amazing life.

The conies had their hiding place

the fox his stealthy tread a covert found

but Christ the Lord had not a place

to lay his head.


The eagle had an eyrie home,

the blithesome bird its rest,
but not the humblest spot on earth

was by the Son of God possessed.


Princes and kings had palaces,

with grandeur could adorn each tomb;

for him who came with love and life

they gave no room.


The hand whose touch sent thrills of joy

through nerves and palsied frame,

the feet that travelled for our need

were nailed unto the cross of shame.



How feet that travelled for our need

were nailed unto the cross of shame.


Touch

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, healing, spirituality10 Comments

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/063024.cfm

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Matthew 5:25-29

After praying with this passage from Mark, I wrote this homily almost a decade ago. I liked it very much. And even though it is long, I thought some of you might like to read it or to pray with it this Sunday.

https://lavishmercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/homily-mk-5-21-43-.docx

Music: Touch the Hem of His Garment – Sam Cooke

One of my favorite voices from the 50s and 60s, Sam Cooke is considered one among the greatest R&B artists of all time. Some of you may recall his pop hits like “You Send Me” and “Twisting’ the Night Away”.

Early in his career, he sang with a Gospel group, the Soul Stirrers.

In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of his gospel group The Soul Stirrer. Their first recording under Cooke’s leadership was the song “Jesus Gave Me Water” in 1950. They also recorded the gospel songs “Peace in the Valley”, “How Far Am I from Canaan?”, “Jesus Paid the Debt” and “One More River”, among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of him. (Wikipedia)

Wave

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, peace, spirituality5 Comments

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 23, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062324.cfm

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
Mark 4:37-40

Many years ago, at a particularly critical crossroad in my life, a revered mentor rescued me. She did it with a simple phrase, “Do not go down under this wave.”

Her counsel challenged me to stand up and reach for my faith, despite having been knocked down by gross misjudgment. Her confidence led me to realize that with faith we can find God within our circumstances, releasing a power we may not have recognized before.

In today’s passage, Jesus urges his disciples to live this kind of faith. God is with them, even when seemingly asleep. Fully trusting that Presence will allow their lives to unfold in peace, despite any passing storm. And yes, all storms are passing. 🙂

Poetry: I Go Down to the Shore – Mary Oliver

I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out,
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall—
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.

Music: Every Storm Runs Out of Rain – Gary Allen

Forgive

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

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

Today’s Readings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poetry: Enemies – Wendell Berry

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

Music: Forgiveness – Matthew West

Flourish

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, Love, Psalms, spirituality1 Comment

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 16, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061624.cfm

The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall they grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Psalm 92:13-14

This verse from Psalm 92 ties together all our readings for today.

In the passage from Exodus, God takes a tiny twig, protects and nourishes it, and it flourishes. The analogy describes God’s relationship with Israel and with us. We are called to flourish in the Kingdom of God.

In Corinthians, Paul expresses the conviction that we will receive our recompense according to how we flourish in response to God’s grace.

And in our Gospel, Jesus teaches that our faith – God’s gift to us – is the small seed that flourishes into eternal life, the fullness of life in God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We realize that each of these flourishings begins with a tiny hope – a twig, a courageous aspiration, a mustard seed.

Such is life. It is the small but consistent acts of faith, hope, and love that eventually yield abundant harvest. – embracing us with all Creation in God’s complete Love.

Poetry: Mustard Seed – Meister Eckhart

I.

In the Beginning
High above understanding
Is ever the Word.
O rich treasure,
There the Beginning always bore the Beginning.
O Father’s Breast,
From thy delight
The Word ever flows!
Yet the bosom
Retains the Word, truly.

II.

From the two as one source,
The fire of love.
The bond of both,
Known to both,
Flows the All-Sweet Spirit
Co-equal,
Undivided
The Three are One.
Do you understand why? No.
It best understands itself.

III.

The bond of three
Causes deep fear.
Of this circle
There is no understanding.
Here is a depth without ground.
Check and mate
To time, forms, place!
The wondrous circle
Is the Principle,
Its point never moves.

IV.

The mountain of this point
Ascend without activity.
O intellect!
The road leads you
Into a marvelous desert,
So broad, so wide,
It stretches out immeasurably.
The desert has,
Neither time nor place,
Its mode of being is singular.

V.

The good desert
No foot disturbs it,
Created being
Never enters there:
It is, and no one knows why.

It is here, it is there,
It is far, it is near,
It is deep, it is high,
It is in such a way
That it is neither this nor that.

VI.

It is light, it is clear,
It is totally dark,
It is unnamed,
It is unknown,
Free of beginning or end.
It stands still,
Pure, unclothed.
Who knows its dwelling?
Let him come forth
And tells us what sort it is.

VII.

Become like a child,
Become deaf, become blind.
Your own something
Must become nothing;
Drive away all something, all nothing!
Leave place, leave time,
Avoid even image!
Go without a way
On the narrow path,
Then you will find the desert’s track.

VIII.

O my soul,
Go out, let God in!
Sink all my something
In God’s nothing.
Sink in the bottomless flood!
If I flee from You,
You come to me.
If I lose myself,
Then I find You,
O Goodness above being!

Music: The Ride of the Valkyries – Richard Wagner

I love to listen to this masterpiece when I imagine God opening heaven to all Creation at the end of time.