Category: Courage

Mantle

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

Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
June 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061524.cfm

Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,
as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;
he was following the twelfth.
Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
“Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you.”
1 Kings 19:19-20

Elijah delivers God’s call by placing his mantle across Elisha’s shoulders. The mantle is a symbol of prophetic power, authority, and duty. Elisha welcomes God’s call and the gifts and responsibilities it holds. This story offers us themes of vocation, mentorship, and spiritual eagerness to profess and practice God’s love in the world.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Each of us continually receives God’s call to grow in holiness. This is our vocation, the mantle of invitation to live our lives for and with God. We may choose our call in marriage, religious profession, ordination, or the single life.

Like Elisha, we could be minding our own business in a “field” somewhere when the awareness of God’s call falls over us in a mantle of grace. This call will repeat itself in new ways throughout the course of our lives. Again like Elisha, we pray to be spiritually open and eager to respond.

Poetry: Vocation – William E. Stafford

This dream the world is having about itself
includes a trace on the plains of the Oregon trail,
a groove in the grass my father showed us all
one day while meadowlarks were trying to tell
something better about to happen.
I dreamed the trace to the mountains, over the hills,
and there a girl who belonged wherever she was.
But then my mother called us back to the car:
she was afraid; she always blamed the place,
the time, anything my father planned.
Now both of my parents, the long line through the plain,
the meadowlarks, the sky, the world's whole dream
remain, and I hear him say while I stand between the two,
helpless, both of them part of me:
"Your job is to find what the world is trying to be."

Music: The Call – Vaughn Williams

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death

Come, My Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joys in love

Whisper

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Hope, spirituality6 Comments

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
June 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061424.cfm

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.
A Voice said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”.
1 Kings 19:11-13

Elijah has been a fiery prophet, credibly demonstrating the call to believe in one God. But despite magnificent Divine demonstrations, the people have not been faithful. In today’s reading, the great Elijah goes to the mountain depressed and defeated. God tries to speak to Elijah in further stunning revelations, but Elijah can face only the whisper of God’s Will.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

This passage may lead us to consider the quiet, whispering influence of God in our lives. To do only that would neglect salient points in these verses. At this point in his life, Elijah feels that he has failed in his life’s mission. Israel has failed in fidelity to the Abrahamic covenant. The situation is a mess, God is fed up, and the time for judgment has come.

  • Do we ever feel that way about our world, our Church, even our own lives?
  • Do we ever wonder if what we have tried to be and do in life really matters?
  • Have we gotten so focused on our frustrations and fears that we miss the magnificent display of God’s love and hope for us?

If so, perhaps we can at least, like Elijah, open our hearts to the Divine Whisper ever-present to us. If we have drifted from wholehearted faith, how is God drawing us back with Gentle Presence?

Poetry: i thank you, God – e.e.cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Music: Courage of the Wind – David Lanz

Lampstand

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
June 11, 2024

Today’s Readiings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061124.cfm

You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:14-16

Jesus tells us to let our light shine before others. Is this an invitation to show off or be prideful? Definitely not. It is a call to shine with “beatitudenal goodness” that gives glory to God.

We can take Jesus’s words as an invitation to spiritual transparency. We should, by our actions and choices, proclaim that we live in faith, hope, charity, and gratitude. The important part of the lampstand is the flame that it lifts up. So too with us – the important part of our faith is the witness it gives to the Gospel.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray for the simplicity and integrity of soul that allows God to shine through us.

Poetry: Let Your Light Shine – Marianne Williamson

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 most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be 
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. 
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is 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 is not just in some of us, it is 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: We Are the Light of the World – Jean A. Greif

Stir

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

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
June 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060524.cfm

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
2 Timothy 1: 6-8

Paul has a deep affection and hope for Timothy. He sees the light of faith burning brightly in him. He encourages Timothy to not take his faith for granted but to ignite it fully by his unwavering commitment to live and preach the Gospel.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We thank God for the gift of our faith, for those who have encouraged its growth, and we ask for courage to stir up that gift by the witness of our lives.

Poetry: As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Gerard Manley Hopkins

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.Poetry:

Music: Fan into Flame – John Michael Talbot

I remind you now to fan into flame
The gift that God has bestowed
When my hands were laid upon you,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

The gift that God has given to us,
Is no cowardly spirit at all.
But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God.

So you, my son, you must be strong,
In the grace which is yours in Christ.
The teaching you have heard through me,
Hand onto the trustworthy ones.

The Spirit, God has given to us
Is no cowardly spirit at all.

But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

See

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Eternal Life, Faith, healing, Hope, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
May 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/053024.cfm

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” 
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

Bartimaeus wants to be healed. He wants to see. But Jesus tells him that he is not healed by his desire, or his begging, or his good fortune in running into Jesus. Bartimaeus is healed by his faith because that faith draws forth from Jesus the Divine Power which transforms.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We can be blind in many ways.

  • Often we can’t see what’s right in front of us.
  • We can’t see why others may think differently from us
  • We can’t see the underlying reasons for our circumstances.
  • We can’t see the path to wholeness that may be obvious to others.
  • We can’t see the suffering world around us
  • We can’t see the invisible support that others give us, perhaps over our lifetime.
  • We can’t see the abiding presence of God in our lives

Like Bartimaeus may we call out to Jesus in faith so that he will be moved to help us SEE all that may bring us closer to the Divine Heart.

Poetry: Bartimaeus – John Newton

John Newton was an English Anglican clergyman, abolitionist, and hymn writer. He is best known as the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” one of the most beloved and widely sung hymns in the English language. Newton’s life was marked by a dramatic conversion experience, after which he abandoned his career in the slave trade and became an outspoken advocate for the abolition of slavery.

Mercy, O thou Son of David!
Thus blind Bartimaeus prayed;
Others by thy word are saved,
Now to me afford thine aid:
Many for his crying chid him,
But he called the louder still;
Till the gracious Saviour bid him
Come, and ask me what you will.
Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked, and Jesus granted
Alms, which none but he could give:
Lord remove this grievous blindness,
Let my eyes behold the day;
Strait he saw, and won by kindness,
Followed Jesus in the way.
O! methinks I hear him praising,
Publishing to all around;
Friends, is not my case amazing?
What a Saviour I have found:
O! that all the blind but knew him,
And would be advised by me!
Surely, would they hasten to him,
He would cause them all to see.

Music: The God Who Sees – Rachel Barrentine

Gird

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Cross, Discipleship, Faith, spirituality2 Comments

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
May 28, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052824.cfm

Gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly,
and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Like obedient children,
do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance
but, as he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct,
for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.

1 Peter 1: 13-16

Our reading from Peter uses strong phrases to direct our hearts fully to Christ.

  • Gird up the loins of your mind
  • Let your hopes rest completely on grace
  • Do not act from your former ignorance
  • Be holy

When my niece was a young teen, she had a placard in her bedroom that read “Put on your big girl pants and deal with it.” I thought it was an amazing charge for a thirteen-year-old kid. But she expected it of herself and proved eminently capable of practicing the advice.

James is giving early Christians the same kind of advice. Our capability to respond lies in the hope we place in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask for courage and fidelity in our commitment to Christ and to the Gospel.

Poetry: Don’t Quit – Edgar A. Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low but the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit…
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit!
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many failures turn about
When we might have won had we stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow…
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out…
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Music: Jesus, My Beloved – Jonathan Ogden

Vow

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality3 Comments

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
May 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052424.cfm

.. do not swear,
either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath,
but let your “Yes” mean “Yes” and your “No” mean “No,”
that you may not incur condemnation.
James 5:12

James lets us know that a vow sworn is a sacred and dangerous thing:

  • sacred because God is always at least the third party in our oaths, and
  • dangerous because it takes lifelong commitment to learn to live fully within the vows we make.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s place our spirit close to God’s heart as we pray for insight into our life’s deep vows and promises. In that tender space, let us ask for renewed love, insight, and strength for the journey.

Poetry: The Neophyte – Alice Meynell

Who knows what days I answer for to-day:
Giving the bud I give the flower. I bow
This yet unfaded and a faded brow;
Bending these knees and feeble knees, I pray.

Thoughts yet unripe in me I bend one way,
Give one repose to pain I know not now,
One leaven to joy that comes, I guess not how.
I dedicate my fields when Spring is grey.

Oh, rash! (I smile) to pledge my hidden wheat.
I fold to-day at altars far apart
Hands trembling with what toils? In their retreat
I seal my love to-be, my folded art.
I light the tapers at my head and feet,
And lay the crucifix on this silent heart.

Music: Every Step You Take – The Police

The song, a longtime favorite of mine, mirrors the tone of James’s exhortation in today’s Epistle. It takes a little imaginative stretch, but I invite you to it. 🙂

Courage

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

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
May 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051324.cfm

Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.
John 16: 32-33

We can fool ourselves about what “courage” really is.

I grew up in a tough inner-city neighborhood. We kids had to have courage to survive the street dynamics our parents were blissfully unaware of. I had a lot of that kind of courage and still do. I’m not even afraid of mice, neighborhood toughs like Big Jimmy (remember him?), nor of monsters hiding under my bed.

But do I have the kind of courage Jesus is talking about?

  • the courage to believe when God seems silent
  • the courage to remain peaceful when spiritual turmoil surrounds me
  • the courage to live truthfully in a culture of lies
  • the courage to be patient with my own limitations
  • the courage to be merciful in the face of repeated affront
  • the courage to love what is not lovable
  • the courage to persevere when circumstances test me
  • the courage to champion and reverence the marginalized
  • the courage to challenge systemic indifference to the vulnerable
  • the courage to say “No” when it is what God would say
  • the courage to live God’s “Yes” in an unreceptive world

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s think about the kind of courage Jesus prayed for in his disciples. Let’s mirror our life against it and ask for more of it where we need it.

Poetry: Courage – Edgar A. Guest (sorry about the non-inclusive language)

Courage isn't a brilliant dash,
A daring deed in a moment's flash;
It isn't an instantaneous thing
Born of despair with a sudden spring
It isn't a creature of flickered hope
Or the final tug at a slipping rope;
But it's something deep in the soul of man
That is working always to serve some plan.
Courage isn't the last resort
In the work of life or the game of sport;
It isn't a thing that a man can call
At some future time when he's apt to fall;
If he hasn't it now, he will have it not
When the strain is great and the pace is hot.
For who would strive for a distant goal
Must always have courage within his soul.
Courage isn't a dazzling light
That flashes and passes away from sight;
It's a slow, unwavering, ingrained trait
With the patience to work and the strength to wait.
It's part of a man when his skies are blue,
It's part of him when he has work to do.
The brave man never is freed of it.
He has it when there is no need of it.
Courage was never designed for show;
It isn't a thing that can come and go;
It's written in victory and defeat
And every trial a man may meet.
It's part of his hours, his days and his years,
Back of his smiles and behind his tears.
Courage is more than a daring deed:
It's the breath of life and a strong man's creed.

Music: Take Courage – Kristine DiMarco

Joy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, joy, spirituality1 Comment

Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter
May 10, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051024.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples: 
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy…

… So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
John 16:20

Jesus understands that life can be hard, and the Christian life even harder. His followers will face the grief of losing his physical presence, the scorn of their persecutors, and the sorrows inextricably woven into every human life. Their equanimity may break like a fragile eggshell under the press of these burdens.

But Jesus leaves them with a glorious promise. In him, their grief will be transformed to joy. They “will see him again”, not just in some distant parousia, They will see him in life itself as they learn to live it in the Father as Jesus has lived it.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask for the grace to believe Jesus’s promise, and to see God in our lives as they have been given to us. We pray for the courage to use that blessed assurance in a ministry of love and mercy to the world.

Poetry: Joy and Peace in Believing – John Newton (1725 – 1807), author of Amazing Grace

Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord who rises
With healing in his wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain.
In holy contemplation,
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
And find it ever new:
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
E'en let th' unknown to-morrow
Bring with it what it may.
It can bring with it nothing
But he will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing,
Will clothe his people too:
Beneath the spreading heavens,
No creature but is fed;
And he who feeds the ravens,
Will give his children bread.
Though vine nor fig-tree neither
Their wonted fruit shall bear,
Though all the field should wither,
Nor flocks nor herds be there:
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
For while in him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

Music: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Johann Sebastian Bach

Quake

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, spirituality2 Comments

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
May 7, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050724.cfm

About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
“Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
Acts 16: 25-28

As their persecutors try to imprison Paul and Silas, Divine Intervention shakes up their intentions! Not only are the disciples freed by the earthquake, but they courageously hang around the prison environs to salvage the guard for Christ.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We might prayerfully consider the interventions God has made in our lives – those unexpected turns in the road that eventually led us to grace. How have we responded?

We might also wish to pray for some little quakes of grace in our own lives and in the world where we need to be shaken up, released from unholy chains, and re-ordered in faith.

Poetry: Unless the Grain of Wheat Falls – Irene Zimmerman, OSF

Easter!
But I’m still torn with grief,
disbelief.
I’m not ready yet!
I clutch the old familiar pain—
I’ve gotten used to the dark,
grown calluses against the rub of walls.
I feel secure confined within the grain. 

Easter!
This unseen Presence signed in Bread,
this utter homey-ness of meal
still leaves a loneliness that gnaws.
It almost would be easier
had you stayed dead.
I would not have to try to learn
to know you in this strange new way 

and when my time came, I could say
good-bye behind a finished smile,
without a thought or care
for those I had not fed.
But now to have to live from day to day
on Bread and promise of Bread—
to eat and pass the loaves along
and not to store! 

This call to grow to Easter ripeness
shakes my familiar ground,
quakes the very kernel of myself.
I thought I had secured my walls so well.
But you roll away, like a child’s toy,
the rock I had sealed against you
and make me an empty shell of wheat
to witness that you are alive in me.

Music: Earthquake – by 2nd Life