Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and, found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:7-11
We are accustomed to these words, having heard them multiple times over the years. But read them slowly today. They are stunning! That the Son of God took flesh to restore us to the fullness of grace! All Creation must bow to that Infinite Love.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We let the immense truth of this reading sink into our souls. We rest gratefully in its reality, its daily Presence and invitation to us.
Poetry: On the Mystery of the Incarnation – Denise Levertov
It's when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart: not to a flower, not to a dolphin, to no innocent form but to this creature vainly sure it and no other is god-like, God (out of compassion for our ugly failure to evolve) entrusts, as guest, as brother, the Word.
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” Revelations 7:14
The Book of Revelation conveys stunning and sometimes confusing images, but the image of the Blessed wrapped in white robes is very clear. These are the ones who haved witnessed, endured, and remained faithful. These are the saints.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: In the presence of the saints, we pray to many of our departed favorite saints, whose lives witnessed something which speaks to our own. We have lived, and are living beside some of them right now. But the purpose of the Book of Revelation is to pose this question to its readers: Are you becoming one of them. Will you wear the white robe of belonging fully to God?
Poetry: God Make Us Saints – Vachel Lindsay
Would I might wake St. Francis in you all, Brother of birds and trees, God’s Troubadour, Blinded with weeping for the sad and poor; Our wealth undone, all strict Franciscan men, Come, let us chant the canticle again Of mother earth and the enduring sun. God make each soul the lonely leper’s slave; God make us saints, and brave.
Music: When the Saints Go Marching In
For those of my readers not from the Philadelphia area, this is a clip of the Quaker City stringband as they prepare for our famous Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day. You will notice the brooms in some of the dancers hands. These are to sweep out the old year and begin anew.
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19
These poetic words of Jesus paint a picture of heaven filled with humility, hope, vitality, possibility, and Divine hospitality. Our hearts are the gardens where God plants this mystical seed! Amazing!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to have a holy longing for the heavenly seed God’s offers us. We pray to be loving gardeners of God’s indescribable gifts of faith, hope, and charity.
Poetry: God’s Garden by Dorothy Frances Gurney
The Lord God planted a garden In the first white days of the world, And He set there an angel warden In a garment of light enfurled.
So near to the peace of Heaven, That the hawk might nest with the wren, For there in the cool of the even God walked with the first of men.
And I dream that these garden-closes With their shade and their sun-flecked sod And their lilies and bowers of roses, Were laid by the hand of God.
The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth,– One is nearer God’s heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth.
For He broke it for us in a garden Under the olive-trees Where the angel of strength was the warden And the soul of the world found ease.
Brothers and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift…
… living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love. living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:7;15-16
There is a grace, inherent in each of us, that can make us physically, spiritually, and emotionally elegant. Some people move, speak, write, and behave with grace. It is a natural gift that may be enhanced by our openness to God’s gentle power in our lives.
But there is another kind of infinite grace that is a pure gift from God. When we receive such grace, we receive a share in God’s own life.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of Uncreated Grace in human form, that gift of eternal, inexhaustible Love which invites our full surrender to its transformative power.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: God’s Love for us is so vast as to be incomprehensibe. Like a star in the seemingly distant heavens, it still touches us with its light, still donates its stardust to our body. We pray to be grateful, open, awed, and obedient to its urging in our lives.
Poetry: That Lives in Us -Rumi (interpreted by David Ladinsky)
If you put your hands on this oar with me, they will never harm another, and they will come to find they hold everything you want. If you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer lift anything to your mouth that might wound your precious land- that sacred earth that is your body. If you put your soul against this oar with me, the power that made the universe will enter your sinew from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm that lives in us. Exuberant is existence, time a husk. When the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space; love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give. Why lay yourself on the torturer’s rack of the past and future? The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities will find no rest. Be kind to yourself, dear- to our innocent follies. Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance. You will come to see that all evolves us. If you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving every creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm and we will be, we will be so happy.
I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6
Paul encourages the Ephesian community to live a life worthy of their call. The same encouragement comes down through the ages to us. The unique blessing of our Baptism deserves a worthy response from us, one characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, love, unity, peace, and hope.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We examine our lives for the evidence of these virtues. They should not only be present in our desires but, more importantly, in our actions and choices.
Poetry: Annunciation – Denise Levertov Mary is the perfect and complete model of the worthy life Paul calls us to.
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always the tall lily. Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings, the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering, whom she acknowledges, a guest.
But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage. The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent. God waited.
She was free to accept or to refuse, choice integral to humanness.
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Aren’t there annunciations of one sort or another in most lives? Some unwillingly undertake great destinies, enact them in sullen pride, uncomprehending. More often those moments when roads of light and storm open from darkness in a man or woman, are turned away from in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair and with relief. Ordinary lives continue. God does not smite them. But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.
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She had been a child who played, ate, slept like any other child – but unlike others, wept only for pity, laughed in joy not triumph. Compassion and intelligence fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous than any in all of Time, she did not quail, only asked a simple, ‘How can this be?’ and gravely, courteously, took to heart the angel’s reply, perceiving instantly the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb Infinite weight and lightness; to carry in hidden, finite inwardness, nine months of Eternity; to contain in slender vase of being, the sum of power – in narrow flesh, the sum of light. Then bring to birth, push out into air, a Man-child needing, like any other, milk and love –
but who was God.
This was the moment no one speaks of, when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed, Spirit, suspended, waiting.
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She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’ Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’ She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced. Bravest of all humans, consent illumined her. The room filled with its light, the lily glowed in it, and the iridescent wings. Consent, courage unparalleled, opened her utterly.
Music: Benedicta et Venerabilis
Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria: quae sine tactu pudoris inventa es Mater salvatoris. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, in tua se clausit viscera factus homo.
Blessed and venerable art thou, O Virgin Mary, who, without spot, wast found the Mother of the Saviour. Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world containeth not, being made man, shut Himself in thy womb.
And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. Luke 12:42-44
In the language of his times, Jesus defines the attributes of a good steward: faithfulness, loyalty, dependability, justice, and mercy. We are the stewards of God’s Creation, given into our hands by our loving Creator.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray to recognize God’s trust invested in us. Through our relationships with all God’s creatures, may we tend faithfully to all that God has loved into being.
Thought: from poet Jane Kenyon
Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.
Music: Elk Creek in the Fall – Kathryn Kaye
As the weather begins to change, I think this is a nice song to use for meditation as it brings us into relationship with natural Creation.
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them. Mark 10:13-16
Jesus once again makes it clear that the Reign of God flows unreservedly to the humble, poor, and childlike among us. The roaring cataract of that Lavish Mercy cannot be prevented by any human interference, control, or ignorance.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: May we learn to trust God’s love as a child trusts that of a loving parent. Childlike faith is not immature. It has been deepened and seasoned through a life of prayerful service and reverent relationship with God and all Creation.
Poetry: Nada Te Turbe – St. Teresa of Avila
Nada te turbe nada te espante Todo se pasa Dios nose muda. La paciencia todo alcanza. Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta Solo Dios basta.
Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, All things are passing. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God is enough.
Music: Nada Te Turbe – A Virtual Choir of Carmelites
Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered. Job 38:1, 12-15
The character of this passage from Job fits so perfectly the spirituality of Francis of Assisi whom we honor today. Francis had a deep veneration for all Creation where he saw God’s beauty and vitality. Francis’s heart anguished for those unable to share in that beauty because of the burden of poverty.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: May we be inspired by Francis’s example, and Job’s honesty to develop a generous and reverent sharing of Creation’s gifts.
Poetry: Saint Francis and the Sow – Galway Kinnel
The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to put a hand on its brow of the flower and retell it in words and in touch it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing; as Saint Francis put his hand on the creased forehead of the sow, and told her in words and in touch blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow began remembering all down her thick length, from the earthen snout all the way through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail, from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine down through the great broken heart to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them: the long, perfect loveliness of sow.
Music: St. Francis Preaching to the Birds – Franz Liszt (performed by Brandon Hawksley)
I dwell in the shelter of the Most High. and abide in the shadow of the Holy One. I say, “You are my refuge and stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust. You will deliver me from the snare of the hunter and from all manner of evils. You will cover me with your pinions and hide me in the shadow of your wings. I need not be afraid of any terror of the night, or danger of the day. I will be strong in the face of difficulty and face the trials of my life with calm assurance. I need not fear illness or injury, people who roar like lions or hiss like snakes, You will tread on my fears.I hear you whisper,
“I am bound to you in love, therefore I will help you in times of trouble. I am with you when you call for me. I will dwell in your heart through the years of your life. Psalm 91 (interpreted by Christine Robinson)
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We pray with the angels. They are not chubby little cherubs on Christmas cards. Rather, they are magnificent beings with whom we share God’s breath. They worship God with all their vitality, and guide us so that we may someday share in their sacred ministry.
We honor our angels, asking to learn from the purity of their love for God.
Prose: from Thomas Merton
The angels are our brothers/sisters and fellow servants in a world of freedom and of grace. Like us, they are saved by Christ the Lord and King of Angels. With Christ their King and sent by his command, they come to us as invisible messengers of his divine will, as mysterious protectors and friends in the spiritual order. Their presence around us, unimaginable, tender, solicitous, and mighty, terrible as it is gentle, is more and more forgotten while the personal horizon of our spiritual vision shrinks and closes in upon ourselves.
Music: Adoro Te Devote – written by Thomas Aquinas, sung by Juliano Ravanello
Lavish Mercy 