Category: Discipleship

Prayer of Grateful Remembrance

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Prayer, spirituality2 Comments

Friday, February 8, 2019

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Today, in Mercy, our Gospel recounts the dramatic story of John the Baptist’s death. John, the one who went before Christ, paving the way for him, precedes him even in death.

Jesus expressed great respect and gratitude for John when he said:

I tell you, among those born of women
there is no one greater than John …
(Luke 7:28)

Today’s passage from Hebrews closes by exhorting us to:

Remember those who have gone before you,
who spoke the word of God to you.
Consider the outcome of their way of life
and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The readings inspire us to gratefully remember and prayerfully honor the many people who have gone before us, leading us in faith. Parents and family, teachers, religious women and men, friends and mentors. Slowly naming these individuals in our prayer will remind us of our abundant blessings and encourage us to live lives worthy of their gifts to us.

Music: Wind Beneath My Wings – sung by Perry Como

 

Add to the Beauty

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

Thursday, February 7, 2019

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Mk16_15 add to beauty

Today, in Mercy, Jesus’s disciples set out on their first solo mission. Most of us can relate to their feelings that morning.

Remember your first real job? You had studied, trained, prepared. You had aced the interview. You bought a new blouse, shirt or pair of shoes. You were IN!

And you were scared. You might have done a dry run to make sure you wouldn’t be late your first day. You checked that your gas tank was topped off. You packed a lunch (or someone who loved you did), and wondered who would eat with you.

The disciples were probably scared too. Look at whose shoes they were following in! And Jesus sets out some tough dress code for their work life:

  • take nothing but a walking stick
  • no food, no sack, no money in their belts
  • wear sandals but not a second tunic.

The behavior code was just as lean:

  • take a buddy for support
  • when you enter a house, stay there the whole time
  • if they don’t welcome you or listen to you, don’t argue
  • leave there and shake the dust off your feet

As we set out to work each day, do we think of our labor as “ministry”? Do we see that our work in some way benefits the life of the community? Do our interactions with our peers encourage their contributions to the common good?

We all need jobs to earn the means to live. But if that’s all our job is, we will never find happiness in it. Meaningful work must benefit more than ourselves and, in that, it can become a ministry.

If Jesus were sending us out to our workday this morning, he might give instructions like these:

  • work responsibly, mutually and unselfishly 
  • earn all that you need to be happy, but avoid greed
  • make sure your labors enhance life for others as well as yourself
  • if your job chokes your soul, move on

What we do does not determine our worth. How we do it does. We may be sewing buttons on shirts. If we do that with attention and pride, our work will have meaning for us and for others.

Every meaningful job gives us the chance to make the world better for those we serve, and for those with whom we work – to add to the beauty of the world already begun in the blessing of God. Does our work offer us that life-giving opportunity? Do we respond to it wholeheartedly?

Song: Add to the Beauty ~ Sara Groves

Walk the Bridge

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith2 Comments

Sunday, February 3, 2019

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Today, in Mercy,  we begin our readings with God’s stern but magnificent commission to the prophet Jeremiah: 

… stand up and tell them
all that I command you.

What Jeremiah had to tell the Israelites was not good news. He prophesied that if they didn’t repent from their idolatry, Jerusalem would fall into the hands of foreign oppressors. Nobody wanted to hear it. They led Jeremiah a life, to the point that he is often referred to as “The Weeping Prophet”. Over the course of forty years and reign of five Judean kings, Jeremiah’s message continues until, in the end, it comes to fulfillment in the Babylonian Captivity.

How did Jeremiah sustain such confrontational preaching in the face of intractable resistance?

love is the bridgeJPG

Perhaps the answer lies in our second reading. He did it out of love.

Arthur Cundall, a British scripture scholar writes:

“God wanted a person
with a very gentle and tender heart
for this unrewarding ministry of condemnation.
Jeremiah’s subsequent career shows that
he had this quality in full measure.”

Jeremiah is a living example of the loving, humble, truth-seeking, hope-impelled soul described in 1 Corinthians, our second reading.

In Luke’s Gospel today, we see Jesus rejected in the same manner as Jeremiah. Jesus’s message asks his listeners for deep conversion of heart in order to be redeemed. Like the ancient Israelites, they don’t want to hear it. They cannot break through their comfortable existence to acknowledge its emptiness.

The message for us today? Is there an emptiness somewhere in our hearts that we have not yet given over to God? Are we filling it with “false gods”, rather than the loving virtues described in Corinthians?

We know where our “dead spaces” are, and we deeply intend them to come alive again. Today, let’s begin to walk the bridge from intention to practice.

Music:  Can’t help it. I love it.

Get Back in the Game!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Hope, spirituality, suffering3 Comments

Friday, February 1, 2019

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hebres10_36endurance

Today, in Mercy, Paul reminds his listeners of all the sufferings they endured when they first embraced the Christian faith. He goes on to encourage them to persevere, even in the midst of ongoing challenges:

… do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.

It’s a speech with all the overtones of a great pep talk. At first it reminded me of our old coach Miss Weed (seriously), back in the days when I played basketball. She never gave up; never gave in.

cast

During one game, I called time out because I was pretty sure I had just broken my finger blocking a shot. Miss Weed unsympathetically told me, “No time outs! No broken bones! Get back in and finish the game!” Later, waiting to get my hand casted at the clinic, I reflected on what I had learned.

Maybe that’s the way Paul’s community felt as they read this passage. “Time out, Coach! This Christian stuff is tough!”

But Paul had an amazing caveat that Miss Weed didn’t have. Paul held up before his audience the promise of eternal life. Things comparable to broken fingers pale in that Light!

So today, let’s get back in the game with all our hearts – living our life in Christ with gusto and joy. Often it is not easy. But always look to the Light. And …

… do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.

Music: We’ve Got This Hope – Ellie Holcomb (Lyrics below)

We’ve got this hope
We’ve got a future
We’ve got the power of the resurrection living within
We’ve got this hope
We got a promise
That we are held up and protected in the palm of His hand
And even when our hearts are breaking
Even when our souls are shaking

Oh, we’ve got this hope

Even when the tears are falling
Even when the night is calling

Oh, we’ve got this hope

And we’re not alone
Our God is with us
We can approach the throne with confidence
Cause He made a way
When troubles comes
He’ll be our fortress
We know that those who place their hope in Him will not be ashamed

And even when our hearts are breaking
Even when our souls are shaking

Oh, we’ve got this hope

Even when the tears are falling
Even when the night is calling

Oh, we’ve got this hope

Our hope is grounded in an empty grave
Our hope is founded on the promise that He made

Ears to Hear

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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Today, in Mercy,  we hear the very familiar parable of the sower and the seed, teaching us that God’s grace needs to fall on a fertile heart in order to bear fruit.

It seems like a pretty straightforward lesson although, according to the passage, many listeners missed the point. The situation begs the question of why Jesus used parables if some people wouldn’t understand them.

ears

A parable is like a poem. Both say so much more than the words that comprise them.

Jesus is teaching his listeners truths that go beyond language. Each parable will live beyond its time to bring fresh insights down through the generations.

But the key is having the “ears to hear”.

These are ears of the heart and soul, ears that listen always for God’s silent conversation running under all reality. These “ears” are a metaphor for the contemplative spirit which trains itself in wordless prayer to find the Word in all experience.

We will have innumerable conversations today with ourselves and others. We use the many languages of human interaction: business jargon, friendly banter, diplomatic dialogues, lover’s whispers, profound heart-to-hearts, body language, and even pregnant silence. 

Running under each exchange is a level of divine engagement where God speaks, revealing the true meaning of our human experience.  Our whole life – every moment of it – is a parable of God’s infinite love for us and all Creation. Our whole life is a conversation with God!

Let those who have ears to hear, hear!

(Speaking of “words” and “poems” today, I thought I would share a few of my poems on occasion for those who might enjoy them.  I have chosen two that are about contemplative prayer. They will come in a separate email. I hope you enjoy them)

Music: Will You Not Listen?~ Michael Card

What! Jesus Insensitive?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mary, suffering2 Comments

Tuesday,  January 29, 2019

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Today, in Mercy, our Gospel describes a scene that has always nettled me a bit.

mk3_35 mother_brothers

Jesus is teaching a group inside his small house in Capernaum. He has moved there as he begins his public ministry. Word of his preaching and miracles has created a hubbub all around him, to the point that he can’t get a chance to eat or to rest.

Just a few lines earlier in the Gospel, Mark describes how concerned Jesus’s relatives are about his well-being. Mark 3:21 goes so far as to say:

“When his relatives heard ( how besieged he was) they set out to seize him,
for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’.”

In today’s passage Jesus’s “mother, brothers and sisters” arrive at his home, prevented from entering by the large crowd. They stand outside asking for him. When Jesus hears this, he delivers the nettling remark:

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”

It seems so insensitive, doesn’t it? These people have loved Jesus, played with him, grown up with him! And his mother! My goodness, we all know to listen to, respect, and welcome our mothers!

Praying with this passage though may reveal another dimension in our understanding of Jesus. What Jesus may be saying is this:

All of you, my followers, are closer to me than even the most precious human ties. My  family is now the all-encompassing family of my Father. My path is now the Father’s will, not my human family’s hopes and expectations.

Jesus is, at once, acknowledging to his family, his followers and, no doubt, himself that the Father is about to use his life in ways that will transform, awe and shock the world.

He is telling his disciples to be prepared for the same thing if they truly follow him.

I have always imagined Jesus, in the unrecorded memory of this passage, taking Mary aside afterward, gently explaining his purpose. I see her hand on his maturing lightly-whiskered cheek, tears both of pride and fear in her eyes, and a perfect mutual understanding in their smiles.

Music: Perfect Love – Mary’s Song

Word

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

Sunday, January 27, 2019

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Today, in Mercy, our readings focus on Scripture as the revealed Word of God.

lk1_scroll word

Ezra, from our first passage, lived almost 500 years before Christ during the Babylonian captivity, a time when much of the population of Judea was deported to what is modern day Iraq. When the Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, the Jews were permitted to return to Judea.

During the sixty-year enslavement, many Jews lost touch with their culture, language and religion. Our reading describes Ezra’s efforts to restore the Jewish character of the community by reintroducing them to the Torah. He has to read to them, translating the Hebrew for those who no longer speak it.

In a gesture foretelling the liberating ministry of Jesus, Ezra unrolls the scroll – symbolic of bringing to light that which has been hidden or buried.

In our Gospel, Jesus too unrolls the scroll. In doing so, Jesus reveals the heart of faith which had been buried within the Law. Jesus preaches in a new “language” – the language of God’s all-inclusive mercy, forgiveness, and love.

For us who believe, the holy scriptures are a Living Word which, through thoughtful prayer, will continually reveal God’s heart to us. It is worth our time and attention to become friends with these sacred messages.

Many of you, dear readers, will be familiar with the ancient prayer practice of “lectio divina”. In her book “Too Deep for Words”, Sister Thelma Hall describes the practice:

… a wholistic way of prayer which disposes, opens, and “in-forms” us for the gift of contemplation God waits to give, by leading us to a place with him at our deepest center … It begins this movement by introducing us to the power of the Word of God in scripture to speak to the most intimate depths of our hearts …

Sister Thelma Hall’s Book, a classic, is available on Amazon for those who might enjoy exploring Lectio Divina. I highly recommend it. My copy, nearly 30 years old, is beginning to show its age, but then again, so am I! 😂 I would never part with it. 

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Music:  Word of God Speak ~ Mercy Me

Fan the Love into Flame

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Love1 Comment

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2019

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Today, in Mercy, we have the beautiful letter from Paul to Timothy, filled with tenderness, encouragement, hope and the sweet suggestion of loving memories.

2 tim1_6 fan to flame

When we travel life’s road, what an indescribable blessing to have even one companion who loves us the way Paul loved Timothy — to care for our whole life,  our whole soul, and our whole “forever”.

In his letter, Paul reveals that Timothy has been immensely blessed with such love.  Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois have already – for many years –  tendered Timothy in the faith.

In this lovely letter, Paul notes that he prays for Timothy daily.

Do we pray for those who have blessed us and loved us in our lives? Do we tell them so, if they are living? Do we thank and remember them if they have gone home to God?

Paul closes this part of his letter with such beautiful words to Timothy:

For this reason,
I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have
through the laying on of my hands.

Many people have rested their hands on your spirit, on your heart.  Be filled with love and gratitude for them today and everyday. For those who have done otherwise, forgive them and let them go.

I remember in a special way today my mother who died on this date thirty-one years ago.  In a separate email, I share a poem I wrote after Mom’s death.  It is a little sad in tone, but it may touch and help some of you, my readers, who are experiencing grief.

Stay with your grief, beloveds, long enough to find the blessing within it.

Some meditative music: for your remembering prayer: James Last – Coulin

The WHOLE World

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Love, Mercy1 Comment

Friday, January 25, 2019

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Today, in Mercy,  Acts paints a detailed picture of Saul’s conversion and call on the road to Damascus. It’s a colorful and dramatic account befitting the biography of the  great “Apostle to the Gentiles”.

mk16_15 whole world

Think about this. Almost all the very first Christians (and Christ himself) were Jews. Early Christian ritual grew out of Jewish ritual. In the immediate post-Resurrection period, there were few, of any, Gentile Christians.

This is one of the reasons Paul is such a big deal. As a Roman citizen and a devout Jew, he lived with a foot in two worlds, as opposed to the Jewish fishermen who composed the original Twelve. They were local guys with minimal exposure to the non-Jewish world.

When the original Twelve (eventually Eleven) heard Jesus’s Apostolic Commission, “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News…”, they may have felt that world was confined to Israel’s borders! Paul, the post-Resurrection Apostle, demonstrated otherwise.

Paul traveled over 10,000 miles proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. His journeys on land and sea took him primarily through present day Israel, Syria, Turkey, and Greece.
(from Loyola Press. See website for great summary of Paul’s journeys.

Click here for Paul’s Journeys 

How encompassing is our vision of “the whole world”, that world which hungers for the message, mercy and love of Christ?

Our Gospel today impels us with the same apostolic call as these early disciples. God’s love and fullness of life belong to all. What can I do to make that a greater reality?

Music:  Facing a Task Unfinished-~ Lyrics:Frank Houghton. Performed by the Gettys 

Heyday Jesus

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

Thursday, January 24, 2019

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Today, in Mercy, Mark’s Gospel portrays Jesus in his “heyday”. 

heydayjpg

It is early in his ministry. Word is spreading about his teaching and his miracles. He is the “hot ticket” in any town he visits. But what was Jesus thinking in the midst of all the hubbub?

We get a few good hints in our Gospel.

  • Jesus withdrew toward the sea
  • He wanted a boat ready lest the crowd would crush him
  • He warned the unclean spirits not to make him known

These phrases suggest that Jesus was a bit overwhelmed by the furor. No doubt he realizes that his identity and message go far beyond the show of miracles. Can the “fandom” of these early crowds be converted to deep and committed discipleship?

This reading might incline me to consider my own faith. 

Do I love and follow just the “heyday Jesus” – the One who is powerful over the demons and deaths I fear?

Or have I learned to love and follow the deeper Jesus, the One who suffers and dies for justice, goodness and love – the One Who lives in the poor?

One way to answer these questions is to ask ourselves where we find Jesus in our daily lives.

Is he confined to our Bible, our church, our prayerbooks and our moral judgments?

Or is our faith deep enough to see and love him in the suffering face of humanity – perhaps where it is inconvenient, costly and sometimes unsettling to find him? 

Music: God of the Poor ~ Graham Kendrick