Category: Discipleship

Just Listen!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, dying, Faith, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
January 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012424.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus tells us the parable of the sower and the seed.

And he taught them at length in parables, 
and in the course of his instruction he said to them, 
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, 
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. 
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it 
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

Mark 4: 2-9

How many times have we heard or read this passage over the years? Maybe so many times that we’ve become a little impervious to it. Maybe we can hear something too much.

For example, as a group of us watched the 76ers basketball game last night, the commercials seemed endless. At one point Anne Marie asked me, “Would you ever buy that?”. Although I was staring at the commercial, I had no idea what it was saying. I had tuned it out and was looking right through it!

Here’s the thing: I could hear the commercial, but I wasn’t listening to it.

I think it’s like that with today’s parable and other scripture passages as well.

We’re probably not farmers. If you’re like me, the best you’ve done is to plant an orange seed in a ten-cent flower pot when you were kindergartners! So the parable might not catch our hearts when we hear it for the 100th time unless we have learned to listen as well as hear!

But when we listen to this parable we might realize that, maybe, for us:

  • the seed fell on the path and got devoured by birds that time when we let up on our dedicated prayer time and took up some useless distraction
  • the seed fell on rocky ground when we failed to study a politically charged issue in the light of the Gospel and instead got caught in a media-spun theory
  • the seed fell among thorns when we allowed our morality to be influenced by gossip, cheap judgments, self-serving agendas, or biased opinion
  • the seed fell on rich ground when we gave our spirits quiet time, prayer, good spiritual reading, the companionship of graced friends, and all the other holy kindnesses that can make us better persons

As I write this blog, it’s so cold where I live that, unless you had a jackhammer, you couldn’t even plant a seed. We don’t want our hearts to be like that. We want supple hearts, ready for the amazing graces God scatters over our lives daily. Let’s do the work to be ready.

Poetry: The Sower – William Cowper (1731 – 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter.

One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him “the best modern poet”, whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem “Yardley-Oak”.

Cowper’s religious sentiment and association with John Newton (who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace”) led to much of the poetry for which he is best remembered, and to the series of Olney Hymns. His poem “Light Shining out of Darkness” gave English the phrase: “God moves in a mysterious way/ His wonders to perform.” (Wikipedia)

Ye child of earth prepare the plough,
Break up your fallow ground;
The sower is gone forth to sow,
And scatter blessings round.
The seed that finds a stony soil
Shoots forth a hasty blade;
But ill repays the sower's toil,
Soon wither'd, scorch'd, and dead.
The thorny ground is sure to balk
All hopes of harvest there;
We find a tall and sickly stalk,
But not the fruitful ear.
The beaten path and highway side,
Receive the trust in vain;
The watchful birds the spoil divide,
And pick up all the grain.
But where the Lord of grace and power
Has bless'd the happy field,
How plenteous is the golden store
The deep-wrought furrows yield!
Father of mercies, we have need
Of thy preparing grace;
Let the same Hand that give me seed
Provide a fruitful place!

Music: Amazing Grace

Time Passes

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality7 Comments

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 21, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012124.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, each of our readings speaks to us of time.

The concept of time has always fascinated me. I remember being aware of the fascination as a very little girl walking beside my mother and aunt along the Wildwood boardwalk arcade.

Some of you who live locally may remember the spot, an extension of the seaside boardwalk at Oak Avenue. Its main attractions were bumper cars and a booth where little piglets ran along a path, picking a random door that, for a nickel, might earn you a stuffed animal.

On that particular summer day, about 1950, there was a new booth – Miranda, the Fortune Teller. Miranda read Tarot cards, an exercise Mom and Aunt Peg were unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, they decided to try it, and each went separately into the tiny veiled room to learn her future as I stood completely entranced by the piglet race.

Later, as the three of us sauntered side-by-side in the salted air, I heard Aunt Peg ask Mom, “Did she tell you how old you will be when you die?”. My ears leaped to attention! What? My mom could die???? And that lady knew when????

I heard my thirty-three year old mother answer, “She said when I am seventy-two.”

“Oh, God! How soon is that?”, I wondered. My little five-year-old mind tried to calculate the expanse of time but failed. However, the prediction planted itself inextricably in my heart.

Decades later, when Mom did pass away (just before her 72nd year) the memory returned to me. And the nearly forty years in between seemed compressed into an incomprehensible moment that had passed as quickly as that sweet seaside breeze.

How many times do we ask the Universe this unanswerable question, “Where did the time go?” It is a question that has a thousand answers and no answer, much like the question, “Who is God?”.

In our readings today, Jonah, Paul, and John the Baptist want us to think about time in relationship to God.

  • For Jonah, time is captured in the forty days of grace to seek repentance.
  • For Paul, time – in the worldly sense – is running out, requiring us to turn our attention to eternity.
  • For Jesus, it is the time of fulfillment – a fulfillment that can be achieved by living the Gospel.

Praying with today’s readings, we might ask ourselves, “What time is it for me?

  • Are there places in my life requiring “repentance“, a turning of my heart away from selfishness and toward the mercy of God?
  • Do I need to widen my perspective with a deeper awareness of eternal rather than worldly values?
  • Am I making a choice every day to live a life patterned on the Gospel?

Poetry: Endless Time – Rabindranath Tagore

Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.
And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous person who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet, with you, there is always time.

Music: What’s It All About, Alfie? – written by Burt Bacharach, sung by Dionne Warwick this modern song seems to deal with the timeless questions.

What’s it all about Alfie
Is it just for the moment we live

What’s it all about
When you sort it out, Alfie
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?

And if, if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule?

As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above
Alfie, I know there’s something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in

I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed
You’re nothing, Alfie

When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day Alfie, Alfie

Can God Do It?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, ordinary time, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot
Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
January 17, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011724.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, both our readings are electric with emotion.

In our first reading, Israel is mortally threatened by the Philistines. We see Saul, their King, fearful and drained of courage. And we see David, their hope, filled with confidence in God’s presence and power.

David spoke to Saul:
“Let your majesty not lose courage.
I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine.”
But Saul answered David,
“You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him,
for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

David continued:
“The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear,
will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.”
Saul answered David, “Go! the LORD will be with you.”

1 Samuel 17: 32-33;37

Young David engages God’s power with the confidence generated by innocence and goodness. This is the same confidence that Jesus has as he lives out his call. He knows what the Divine desire for us – our healing and wholeness. He is one with that desire.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sees a man suffering from a withered hand. He knows he has the power to heal this man and that the Father desires such healing. But the Pharisees, who are afraid of Jesus’s power, invoke the Law in an attempt to control him.

The Pharisees watched Jesus closely
to see if Jesus would cure the man on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”

Mark 3:2-4

But the Pharisees didn’t even have the guts to answer Jesus. This angered him. He was disgusted with their small-hearted selfishness. Rather than be filled with wonder at this man restored to wholeness, “… they went out and plotted against Jesus.”

We often encounter this kind of fearful smallness in our lives … sometimes even in ourselves. What can we learn from David and Jesus about confidently living a larger life, held within the power of God?

Prose Poem: West Wind 2 – Mary Oliver

You are young. So you know everything. You leap
into the boat and begin rowing. But, listen to me.
Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without
any doubt, I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me.

Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and
your heart, and your heart’s little intelligence, and listen to 
me.

There is life without love. It is not worth a bent
penny, or a scuffed shoe. It is not worth the body of a 
dead dog nine days unburied.

When you hear, a mile
away and still out of sight, the churn of the water
as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the
sharp rocks — when you feel the mist on your mouth
and sense ahead the embattlement, the long falls
plunging and steaming—then row, row for your life
toward it.

Music: Confidence – by Sanctus Real

David’s Vocation

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, ordinary time, Scripture, spirituality3 Comments

Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
January 16, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011624.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our first reading introduces us to David, whose thrilling and passionate story unfolds and echoes throughout the rest of biblical history.

In today’s passage, David is called in from the fields to receive, quite unexpectedly, Samuel’s anointing:

David
Michelangelo’s David

“The LORD has not chosen any one of these.”
Then Samuel asked Jesse,
“Are these all the sons you have?”
Jesse replied,
“There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said to Jesse,
“Send for him;
we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.”
Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them.
He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold
and making a splendid appearance.
The LORD said,
“There–anoint him, for this is he!”  

1 Samuel 16: 10-12

Now, the passage doesn’t indicate which field David was in. But maybe he was out in proverbial “left field”, the place from which many human beings are called to do important things, to respond in courageous ways.

Most of us, like David, are just living our ordinary daily lives –relatively oblivious to grace – when the life-changing moments come. Those moments may not be as momentous as David’s, but they are big deals for us. 

  • We get a college acceptance (or rejection) letter.
  • We get a job offer (or we get laid off).
  • We get elected to a position (or we don’t)

Someone asks us:

  • Want to go steady?
  • Will you marry me?
  • Have you ever considered religious life?

Young people, like young David, seem to meet a lot of these obvious directional points in their unfolding lives. But, in reality, we continue to meet them as we move to full maturity. Until the day we die, God is always calling to become deeper, more honest, more loving, more gracefully beautiful, more fully in God’s image.

Where have the pivotal calls and turning points come in your life? What are the junctures at which everything would have been different had you made another choice? What made young, innocent David ready when his first, and ensuing, calls came? 

Here’s why:
David had an exquisite love and constant relationship with God.
And God loved him back, just like God loves us.

Every critical point in our life’s journey is charged with the power of God’s love. That power comes disguised in routine circumstances, like a parent calling his shepherd son home for dinner. But if our hearts are tuned to God, we hear the call deep within those ordinary appearances and we receive the moment’s anointing.

May it be so, until we meet the Beloved Face to face.

Poetry: Vocation – William 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: Anoint Me, Lord – written by Vickie Yohe, sung by Jonathan Matthews

Prophetic Lights

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, inclusivity, spirituality3 Comments

Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
January 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011524.cfm

MLKJPG

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, as we memorialize the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our readings speak about leadership and its continuing call to renew the world in the image of its Creator.

But Samuel said:
“Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the command of the LORD,
he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

1 Samuel 15:22-23

In our first reading, Samuel relays God’s displeasure to Saul who, though a conquering hero, has failed in humility and obedience before the Lord. 

In the story, God has given a clear direction to Saul to obliterate Israel’s centuries-old enemy, the Amalekites. Instead Saul, after executing the masses, keeps the enemy king alive as a war trophy. He appropriates the cattle as personal spoil. He also sets up a shrine to commemorate the victory as his own.

God is not happy. When we profess to lead in God’s name we must act as God directs us. In order to understand God’s direction, we must cultivate an honest, just and merciful heart.

Martin Luther King was such a leader. By his faithful obedience to God’s inspiration, Martin, at the ultimate cost, turned the tides of history toward justice and freedom.

But the tides still need turning, because there will always be those who seek “war trophies”, and personal spoil, and domination for themselves. Our times are tortured by such selfish and failed leadership, just as all of history has been from ancient Israel until 1968 and until now.

Today, as we pray with Martin Luther King, great prophet and leader, we ask that selfless, merciful, and faith-impelled souls continue to hear the call to justice in our day. May Dr. King’s witness strengthen and inspire us.

Poetry: Devouring the Light – Cheryl Boyce-Taylor

The day they killed Martin
we could not return to New York City
our visiting senior class stuck in Huntsville
streets blazed with suffering in that small
Alabama town
in the dull shroud of morning
the whole world went crazy
devouring whatever light
that lit our half-cracked windows.

Music: Precious Lord, Take My Hand – Mahalia Jackson (Lyrics below)

Per Dr. King’s request, his good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”, though not as part of the morning funeral service but later that day at a second open-air service at Morehouse College.

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

When my way grows drear precious Lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

Washed in Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

The Baptism of the Lord
January 8, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010824.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus makes a remarkable debut! 

Picture the scene. It is a beautiful morning in the Judean Valley where the Jordan River runs fresh and sparkling. Most scholars place the Baptism of Jesus sometime in January, which means the weather would have been relatively cool. But perhaps, like our own weather, an unusually warm day may have snuck in.

Rustic, fiery preacher John is baptizing in the Jordan River. Crowds have come to hear what he has to say. Some are convinced and dive into the cool water under his hand. Others rim the hillside, not so sure John isn’t one of the many who have glorious visions but few facts.

Then, out from the pines on the far side of the river, comes Jesus, flanked by some of the Twelve. While his companions chat away to Jesus, his eyes are focused on John. In an instant, Jesus realizes that this is the moment for his revelation. In that same instant, all Creation realizes the same thing.

As Jesus walks slowly toward John, the birds and little animals speak to him, “My Lord and my God…”.  Wind whistling through the trees becomes an Oratorio praising him. All the surrounding colors deepen, breaking forth in unimaginable light.

John is stunned by the cosmic change he senses but cannot describe. Heart trembling, he looks into Jesus’s eyes and catches a glimpse of heaven. “I need to be baptized by you”, John says,”and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus smiles at his cousin, replying, 

“Let it be so now; 
it is proper for us to do this 
to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then John consented.

Perhaps those in the crowd, schooled in the ancient scriptures, heard Isaiah’s voice in the charged atmosphere:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Matthew tells us:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie
The Baptism Of Jesus is a painting by Jeff Haynie For purchase, see:https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie.html

Can you see him light-heartedly splashing John as he shakes his dark curls free of the chilly water? Can you see his transfigured face as he hears his Father speak Love over him?

At that moment heaven was opened, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, 
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

What a beautiful moment in time! Don’t we wish we might have been there in the blessed and awe-struck crowd? We can. Let your prayer of imagination take you there.

Video: The Baptism of Jesus

Find Your Star

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality4 Comments

The Epiphany of the Lord
January 7, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010724.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, and on this glorious feast, we pray with Psalm 72.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.

Psalm 72: 10-13

It is a gorgeous psalm that fills our senses with lights, and scents, and the tactile experience of an ancient and sacred world:

  • we inhale the flower of justice
  • wrap ourselves in its profound peace
  • gaze on a distant, moonless universe
  • stretch our prayer from sea to sea,
  • and our praise to the ends of the earth

We see the ancient nations gather in homage,
carrying the gems, spices and bounty of their homelands.

We, too, kneel in astounded wonder that this vulnerable child, 
hidden in the far reaches of both geography and imagination, 
carries to us the Promise of the Ages.

We, too, trust the star, rising in our own hearts.

Psalm 72 echoes our beautiful first reading from Isaiah, another masterpiece that, in itself, is enough simply to read and savor:

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  
Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.

Isaiah 60: 1-2

In Isaiah, these magnificent verses follow two chapters of gloom and darkness. They break forth in true epiphany to say, “Your Light has come!” – now your life must begin to shine as well.

Epiphany is not simply about kings and camels. It is not simply about a  crèche and a star. 

It is about Divine Revelation hovering over our dailyness. It is about us, opening our eyes in faith and responsiveness to our ever-present God.

The feast of Epiphany reminds us:

Look at your life today. 
The star did not pass you by. 
Open your eyes and find it. 
Once you have seen it, 
live in its Light.

Poetry: The Journey of the Magi – T.S. Eliot

Eliot wrote the poem after his conversion to Anglicanism ( He had been a Unitarian.) The poem conveys his struggle to grow in the light of his new faith. The “journey” is life-long and demanding in a world that often  contradicts that faith.

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Music: The People that Walk in Darkness – Bob Dufford, SJ

The people that walk in darkness 
 have seen, have seen a great light.
 And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
 a light has shone.
 
Refrain: 
For a Child is born this day: 
Rejoice, rejoice.
Daughter of Zion, awake. 
The glory of God is born.
 
And they shall name Him counselor, 
shall call Him mighty God.
And He shall rule from age to age: 
Prince of Peace.
 
Refrain
 
Darkness covers the earth; 
thick clouds govern its pe0ple.
But the Lord will bring them light; 
the Lord will bring them light.
 
Refrain
 
The people that walk in darkness 
have seen, have seen a great light.
And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
a light has shone.
 

Refrain

Back to the Fig Tree

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

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
January 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010524.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John gives us this powerful verse:

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God.

In our Gospel, we meet Nathaniel who has been sitting under a fig tree, perhaps examining his heart in the manner that John describes. I have frequently sat under the fig tree with Nathaniel because his was the name I was given over sixty years ago when I began my religious life.

I had never heard of him before that, nor at least had I paid attention to him. When Mother Bernard solemnly pronounced his name over me, it fell with a thud into my consciousness. Who was this guy anyway??? And what happened to “Regina”, “James Marita”, and “Eleanor Mary” – the names I had humbly requested! I imagine my eyebrows knit into a skeptical question mark!

I remember Mother Anthony peeking over Mother Bernard’s shoulder, encouraging me to smile as the superior’s hands rested on my head in blessing. Later she told me that she wasn’t so sure I would like the name, but that Mother Bernard really did. So I decided that I would learn to really like it too. That’s when I first met Nathaniel under the multi-trunked tree where he sat pondering his life.

Oddly enough at that first meeting, Nathaniel was young like I was then. He was trying to figure out, and plot out, his whole life in that one afternoon, much like I used to do when I was very young. I wanted to make the right decisions to set my life on a perfect course. So did Nathaniel I think.

Well. over the years since, both Nathaniel and I have met Jesus who has intervened in our self-interested ponderings. Jesus has called us beyond our mirror-bound reflections to the “greater things” of God’s vision for us and for Creation.

Nathaniel said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathaniel answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”

John 1:47-50

When I meet Nathaniel these days under the aging fig, we too have aged and mellowed. Asking God’s sustaining intervention for just the day or the hour has become sufficient. Now as the plump fruit falls occasionally from the limb, we listen more than we think or speak. Jesus has joined us there under the leaves’ broad shadows. We share the fruit that has been given to us. And yes, Jesus still knows us in ways that amaze, challenge, and comfort.

Poetry: Seeing for a Moment – Denise Levertov

I thought I was growing wings—
it was a cocoon.

I thought, now is the time to step
into the fire—
it was deep water.

Eschatology is a word I learned
as a child: the study of Last Things;

facing my mirror—no longer young,
the news—always of death,
the dogs—rising from sleep and clamoring and howling, howling,

nevertheless
I see for a moment
that’s not it: it is
the First Things.

Word after word
floats through the glass.
Toward me.

Music: Under the Fig Tree – Lake Isabel

Let No One Deceive You

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, justice, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
January 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010424.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John is gentle but scathingly direct in his teaching:

Children, let no one deceive you.
The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,
just as God is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,
because the Devil has sinned from the beginning.

1 John 3: 7-8

John tells us that good is good, and bad is bad. Don’t let anyone fool you. And don’t make excuses when you fool yourself!

John gives us a clear measuring stick to test alignment with his teaching:

In this way,
the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain;
no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God,
nor anyone who fails to love their sisters and brothers.

1 John 3:10

It’s so simple but so hard to be the kind of person John calls us to be!

In our deep hearts, we know what righteousness looks like. It looks like peace, forgiveness, reverence, truth-telling, kindness, service, faithfulness, hope.

And we know what unrighteousness looks like. It looks like war, vengeance, brutality, bigotry, manipulation, indifference, greed, selfishness, megalomania, dishonesty, fear-mongering.

How has our society gotten so mixed up that we allow unrighteousness to parade in the costume of justice! How have we gotten so lazy, greedy, or indifferent that we refuse to look for and remedy the root causes of our societal grievances? For example, when I dig deeper in my prayerful thinking, I might realize that:

  • Thousands of immigrants are not crossing their borders just to bother me or take my job! They are in fear for their lives and well-being because of a lopsided global economy and a classist devaluation of life.
  • The armament and weapons industries are not founded on a mission to protect me and my loved ones. Like all businesses, they operate to make money. The more guns they sell, and the more expensive and destructive they are, all the better. We are their marketplace not their protectorate.

The Scriptures are God’s living Word. They are not to be read and set aside as a completed devotional practice meaningless for today’s world.

They teach us about the past but they speak to us of the present. As we pray with them, we are called to be changed by them into persons who more clearly reflect Jesus and the Gospel. That is the hard work of righteousness – work that is the everyday stuff of our lives.

Deeply internalizing John’s teaching today is a good place to start our transforming prayer.

Poetry: And 2morrow – Tupac Shakur, (1971 – 1996), was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur’s music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities. His life was filled with violence and eventually, he was murdered, but his creative work revealed a deep though conflicted longing for justice and peace.

Today is filled with anger
fueled with hidden hate
scared of being outcast
afraid of common fate
Today is built on tragedies
which no one wants 2 face
nightmares 2 humanities
and morally disgraced
Tonight is filled with rage
violence in the air
children bred with ruthlessness
because no one at home cares
Tonight I lay my head down
but the pressure never stops
knawing at my sanity
content when I am dropped
But 2morrow I c change
a chance 2 build a new
Built on spirit intent of Heart
and ideals
based on truth
and tomorrow I wake with second wind
and strong because of pride
2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my
dream alive

Music: Beauty for Brokenness (God of the Poor) – Graham Kendrick

See!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Christmas Weekday
January 3, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010324.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we again have John the evangelist and John the Baptist as the “bookends” of our prayer. Each one calls his listeners to see the world differently – more deeply, under the surface – with the eyes of God.

See what love God has lavished upon us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

The spiritual vision the Evangelist describes comes through our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Through his life, death, and Resurrection, Jesus taught us how God loves and wants us to love. That is why a prayer life rooted in scripture, particularly the Gospel, is so critical to our spiritual integrity.

John the Baptist was steeped in this kind of integrity. Stripped of worldliness by ardent desert prayer, the Baptist was ready to not only hear the Word, but to see it when it came to him across the Jordan.

John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

John 1:32-34

Our readings today tell us that we too, through our Baptism into Christ, have been born to a new vision. Every day, this side of heaven, we are challenged to live within that vision – to see the world as God sees it, to live in the world as Jesus would live. The courage to do that comes from our hope which, with faith and love, purifies and fires our heart.

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

1 John 3:2-3

Poetry: Into the Eye of God – Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

For your prayer, your journey into God
May you be given a small storm,
A little hurricane named after you,
persistent enough to get your attention
violent enough to awaken you to new depths
strong enough to shake you to the roots
majestic enough to remind you of your origin:
Made of the earth yet steeped in eternity
Frail human dust yet soaked with infinity.
You begin your storm under the eye of God
A watchful caring eye gazes in your direction
as you wrestle with the life force within.
In the midst of these holy winds
In the midst of this divine wrestling
Your storm journey, like all hurricanes
Leads you in to the eye of God
Into the eye of God where all is calm and quiet
the stillness beyond imagining
Into the eye of God after the storm
Into the silent beautiful darkness
into the eye of God.

Music: Apple of My Eye – Sal Arico