Category: Eternal Life

Reap

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, Prayer, spirituality3 Comments

Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
November 26, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112624.cfm

I, John, looked and there was a white cloud,
and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man,
with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Another angel came out of the temple,
crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud,
“Use your sickle and reap the harvest,
for the time to reap has come,
because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”
So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth,
and the earth was harvested.
Revelation 14:14-16

The Book of Revelation paints another image for us of the end times. We wonder about it, don’t we? The image of God reaping the harvest of which we are a part! Wow!

What will it really be like at the end of the world? Will it come in my lifetime? Will we see our beloveds again? Will we celebrate together the Second Coming of Christ? John wondered the same things we do, and today’s reading describes how he imagined the Parousia.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We spend time in prayer, not so much imagining the unimaginable, but in asking ourselves if we are ready to receive the fullness of Christ for all eternity.

Poetry: For the Interim Time – John O’Donohue

When near the end of day, life has drained
Out of light, and it is too soon
For the mind of night to have darkened things,

No place looks like itself, loss of outline
Makes everything look strangely in-between,
Unsure of what has been, or what might come.

In this wan light, even trees seem groundless.
In a while it will be night, but nothing
Here seems to believe the relief of darkness.

You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.

“The old is not old enough to have died away;
The new is still too young to be born.”

You cannot lay claim to anything;
In this place of dusk,
Your eyes are blurred;
And there is no mirror.

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart
And you can see nowhere to put your trust;
You know you have to make your own way through.

As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.

What is being transfigured here is your mind,
And it is difficult and slow to become new.
The more faithfully you can endure here,
The more refined your heart will become
For your arrival in the new dawn.

Music: The Ride of the Valkyries – Richard Wagner

Sometimes when prayer is beyond words, music may capture our feelings and speak them to God for us. I love to play this piece when praying these end-time passages.

Awake

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality2 Comments

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
November 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112524.cfm

Stay awake!
For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
Matthew 24:42,44

Our Gospel today is a repeat of one we had about two weeks ago, so I have focused our prayer on the Responsorial Psalm.

Stay Awake!

When I hear that phrase, I think of the cowboy movies that were popular when I was a kid. (and still are!) A couple of guys would be out in the desolate prairie, pitch dark all around. They would each take their turn on the watch after the boss’s exhortation to “Stay awake”!

Are you kidding me! We just rode all day on horseback, there is not a sound but crickets and hoot owls, there is a warm night breeze, and YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY AWAKE?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the spiritual stamina to stay awake for God. The watch may be long, dark at times, and a little scary at others. But, as we will discover in prayer, God is already beside us in the vigil.

Poetry: Don’t Sleep – Rumi

For those of you who have troubled sleeping, this poem might be confusing. But the poem refers to the sleep of the soul, not the body.

Music: Stay Awake

Sweet

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Creation, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, Love, Psalms, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
November 22, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112224.cfm

How sweet to my taste is your promise!
In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
 they are my counselors.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.
I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.
from Psalm 119

Today, I choose to pray with our Responsorial Psalm 119, a beautiful love song to God. The psalm lists everything for which we might love God.

Picture a beloved asking you, “What do you love about me? Can you make a list?” Picture God doing the same thing. Psalm 119 is one person’s list of how they love the sweetness of God. What would your list look like?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We take time in prayer to share “love talk” with God. How does the Divine Sweetness touch us, change us? How do we return that sweetness to God by our touch upon God’s Creation?

Poetry: Song Silence By Madeleva Wolff, CSC

Yes, I shall take this quiet house and keep it
With kindled hearth and candle-lighted board,
In singing silence garnish it and sweep it
                For Christ, my Lord.
 
My heart is filled with little songs to sing Him—
I dream them into words with careful art—
But this I think a better gift to bring Him,
                Nearer his heart.
 
The foxes have their holes, the wise, the clever;
The birds have each a safe and secret nest;
But He, my lover, walks the world with never
A place to rest.
 
I found Him once upon a straw bed lying;
(Once on His mother’s heart He laid His head)
He had a bramble pillow for His dying,
                A stone when dead.
 
I think to leave off singing for this reason,
Taking instead my Lord God’s house to keep,
Where He may find a home in every season
                To wake, to sleep.
 
Do you not think that in this holy sweetness
Of silence shared with God a whole life long
Both he and I shall find divine completeness
                Of perfect song?

Music: Cor Dulce – Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), sung by Benedictines of Mary

Sweet heart, most loving heart;
our love wounded,
our love languishing;
be merciful to me. 

Heart of Jesus, sweeter than honey;
heart purer than the sun;
Holy word of God,
fullness of God’s wealth.

Thy haven for a shipwrecked world;
secure portion for the faithful,
defender and refuge of our minds;
rest for our faithful hearts.

Cor dulce, Cor amabile,
Amore nostri saucium,
Amore nostri languidum,
Fac sis mihi placabile. 

Cor Jesu melle dulcius,
Cor sole puro purius,
Verbi Dei sacrarium,
Opum Dei compendium. 

Tu portus orbi naufrago,
Secura pars fidelibus,
Reis asylum mentibus,
Piis recessus cordibus.

Wept

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, peace, spirituality, suffering3 Comments

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 21, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112124.cfm

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-42

When we think of Jesus’s suffering, we often think only of his Passion and Death. But, like us, Jesus suffered in many ways throughout his life. Certainly, he suffered misunderstanding, hatred, marginalization, and rejection. In today’s reading, Jesus suffers heartbreak. The ones for whom He took flesh have failed to understand the peace he offers.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to understand that the Spirit of God runs in an infinite current through all of life, calling every dimension to deep union with Divinity. This union is achieved by living as Jesus lived in peace, love, obedience, justice, mercy, and joy. Until we can let the rest go, I think Jesus still weeps.

Poetry: Jesus Weeps by Malcolm Guite

Jesus comes near and he beholds the city
And looks on us with tears in his eyes,
And wells of mercy, streams of love and pity
Flow from the fountain whence all things arise.
He loved us into life and longs to gather
And meet with his beloved face to face
How often has he called, a careful mother,
And wept for our refusals of his grace,
Wept for a world that, weary with its weeping,
Benumbed and stumbling, turns the other way,
Fatigued compassion is already sleeping
Whilst her worst nightmares stalk the light of day.
But we might waken yet, and face those fears,
If we could see ourselves through Jesus’ tears.

Music: Pie Jesu – Gabriel Fauré
The Pie Jesu is the centerpiece of Fauré’s Requiem, which he completed in 1890. Many consider it his greatest composition.

Blossom

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

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112024.cfm

While people were listening to Jesus speak,
he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.
So he said,
“A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’
Luke 19:11-13

This is a tough parable to get real devotional about. It’s the story of a nasty guy who wants to be king. When his campaign is repulsed, he takes it out on his servant whom he deems unproductive.

But think about where Jesus told the story. He is at the threshold of Jerusalem where, through his Passion and Death, he will reign over the universe. But Jesus will do this by the inverse of what we would expect. He will be rejected by this world to open us to the deeper essence of its heart.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus wants his followers to be productive in spreading the Gospel. He wants us to blossom in faith and service to God’s Name. We pray for the courage to exercise those gifts in faith, hope, and charity.

Prose: Prayer of Walter Brueggemann

You are the giver of all good things. 
All good things are sent from heaven above, 
rain and sun, day and night, 
justice and righteousness, 
bread to the eater and seed to the sower, 
peace to the old, energy to the young, 
joy to the babes. 

We are takers, who take from you, day by day, 
daily bread, taking all we need as you supply, 
taking in gratitude and wonder and joy. 

And then taking more, 
taking more than we need, 
taking more than you give us, 
taking from our sisters and brothers, 
taking from the poor and the weak, 
taking because we are frightened, and so greedy, 
taking because we are anxious, and so fearful, 
taking because we are driven, and so uncaring. 

Give us peace beyond our fear, and so end our greed. 
Turn our taking into giving, since we are in your giving image: 
Make us giving like you, 
giving in joy, not taking, 
giving as he gave himself up for us all, 
giving, never taking. 
Amen.

Music: God Turn Me Into a Flower

What would it take to truly “blossom” for God, to be the Love that Jesus hopes for us, to take the coin of grace and enrich it by our service of the Gospel?

As you listen to this rather mysterious song, you might consider those questions.

See

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

Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 18, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111824.cfm

Jesus stopped and ordered that the blind man be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
Luke 18:40-42

This Gospel story is filled with images and interactions that might speak to our souls.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We consider this:
What if Jesus asked you that question right now? “What do you want me to do for you?”

What would your request be? Would you be tempted to respond as if Jesus were a genie who deals in wishes not hopes?

Or would your answer grow from your deep faith as it does with this blind man? Upon his healing, heaven’s window was opened to him. The Gospel tellsus that “he followed” Jesus. His newfound vision was put fully at the service of God.

Poetry: Blind Trust – Irene Zimmerman

Bartimeus sat outside
the town of Jericho.
The more they told him where to go,
the louder he cried.

He had no pride --
when Jesus asked he simply stared:
"Lord, I want to see!" and waited
to be eyed.

Music: Heaven’s Window – Peter Kater

Tribulation

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 17, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111724.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

“And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.
Mark 13:24-27

We’re coming to that time of year that I don’t really like too much. The eschatological readings used to close out the liturgical year are filled with astounding, awesome, and sometimes frightening images.

But I guess that’s the whole point. If you haven’t gotten the message throughout the entire year, this is a last-ditch effort to scare it into you!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We offer the prayer of today’s Responsorial Psalm, confident that when the end time comes, we will be among those who rejoice.

Poetry: You are my inheritance, O Lord! - Psalm 16

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.

You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.

Music: In Paradisum – interpreted by Michael Hoppé

In paradisum deducant te angeli; 
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, 
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. 
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, 
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere 
æternam habeas requiem.
May the angels lead you into paradise; 
may the martyrs receive you at your arrival 
and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem. 
May choirs of angels receive you 
and with Lazarus, once was poor, 
may you have eternal rest.

Stranger

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, friendship, inclusivity, justice, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
November 16, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111624.cfm

Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters,
especially for strangers;
they have testified to your love before the Church.
Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.
For they have set out for the sake of the Name
and are accepting nothing from the pagans.
Therefore, we ought to support such persons,
so that we may be co-workers in the truth.
3 John 5:8

Most of us have felt like strangers at some point in our lives. It’s not a nice feeling. You might have attended an event without a date or companion. You might have been the only woman in a group of men, or vice versa. You might have been the only Black person at a White funeral or the other way around. Didn’t we hope to find someone to connect to, someone who would offer us an open door?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
As we think about Paul’s teaching, and our own experiences, let’s prayerfully consider our attitudes and actions regarding immigrants and refugees. Persons displaced by climate, politics, poverty, lawlessness, and a host of other causes deserve our help, as Paul describes. Let’s ask ourselves how we’re doing with that.

Poem: The Kindness of Strangers – Sally Van Dorn

Here I am with all my flaws
seeking form and shelter.

I blanche at the notion
of violence, but it’s coming

after us, closing in like a
superstition I can’t shake.

If I acquiesce to your harsh
future you must promise me

one thing. Where we go we will
find our youth again. Can you

see it there under the yellow linen
tablecloth? I’m depending on it.

Music: Wayfaring Stranger – published in 1858, author unknown

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world below
There is no sickness, no toil, no danger
In that bright land to which I go
I'm going there to see my father
And all my loved ones who've gone on
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is hard and steep
But beauteous fields arise before me
Where God's redeemed, their vigils keep
I'm going there to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
So I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home

Forgiveness

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Forgiveness, spirituality1 Comment

Thursday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
November 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111424.cfm

Beloved:
I have experienced much joy and encouragement from your love,
because the hearts of the holy ones
have been refreshed by you, brother.
Therefore, although I have the full right in Christ
to order you to do what is proper,
I rather urge you out of love,
being as I am, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.
I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment,
who was once useless to you but is now useful to both you and me.
Philemon 1:7-11

Did you ever have to intercede for a friend? Or if you were the friend, did anyone ever have to intercede for you? That’s what is happening in this passage.

Onesimus, the escaped slave of Philemon, had also been accused of petty theft. During his escape, he comes into Paul’s company, is converted, and befriends and assists Paul.

Paul pleads with Philemon to forgive and reconcile with Onesimus as a brother in Christ.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We give thanks for those who have stood by us in times of testing, who knew our hearts better than others did, and who represented us in Christ.

Poetry: “Onesimus” by Tania Runyan

Since I stole your money, Philemon, and even more, myself, the body
that broke earth and stacked stones at daybreak while you slept,

you have every right to lash me till the whites of my intestines show,
brand FUG on my forehead, or throw me to the lions, who love especially

the taste of escaped slaves, our blood sweet with freedom’s fleeting breath.
But Paul, wild-eyed with Christ, has washed down his prison walls

with prayer. He knows you will take me back, not a slave, but a brother
delivering koinonia to your congregation in this present evil age, teaching

how to pray paralytics into motion and how to sleep in peace
when soldiers sharpen swords outside your windows. Paul calls me his son, no—

his very heart. I am no longer your body but will reside in yours,
pump forgiveness and prayer through your veins. I will make you

see Christ in every jangling harlot and rotting, leprous face.
I will make you a slave to God’s bidding.

Music: Return to the Heart – David Lanz

Cabrini

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

Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin
November 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111324.cfm

But when the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
he saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7

The saint we honor today is an exemplar of the spiritual life Paul describes in his letter to Titus – centered in God’s mercy, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and unified with Jesus Christ and his Gospel.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we take time to be with Frances Xavier Cabrini, and with any of our special saints who model for us the pathway to eternal life.

Research: The story of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s life is inspiring and astounding. To read a summary, click here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Xavier_Cabrini

Music: Va, Pensiero (from the film Cabrini) is an aria from the opera Nabucco written by Giuseppe Verdi in 1842. The aria is popularly known as “The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves”.

The opera recollects the period of Babylonian captivity after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC.

The libretto is by Temistocle Solera, inspired by Psalm 137. The opera with its powerful chorus established Verdi as a major composer in 19th-century Italy. The full incipit is “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate”, meaning “Go, thought, on wings of gold”. (Wikipedia)

Goes, thought, on golden wings
Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate

It goes, it places you on the slopes, on the hills
Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli

Where they smell warm and soft
Ove olezzano tepide e molli

The sweet auras of the native soil
L’aure dolci del suolo natal
He greets the banks of the Jordan
Del Giordano le rive saluta

The towers of Sione collapsed
Di Sione le torri atterrate

Oh, my beautiful and lost homeland
Oh, mia patria sì bella e perduta

Oh, memory so dear and fatal
Oh, membranza sì cara e fatal
Golden harp of the fateful prophets
Arpa d’or dei fatidici vati

Why does it change from the willow tree you hang?
Perché muta dal salice pendi?

Rekindle the memories in your chest
Le memorie nel petto raccendi

It tells us about times gone by
Ci favella del tempo che fu
O similar of Sòlima to the fates
O simile di Sòlima ai fati

You draw a sound of raw lament
Traggi un suono di crudo lamento

O may the Lord inspire you with a concert
O t’ispiri il Signore un concento

May it infuse virtue into suffering
Che ne infonda al patire virtù
May it infuse virtue into suffering
Che ne infonda al patire virtù

May it infuse virtue into suffering
Che ne infonda al patire virtù

Virtue to suffering
Al patire virtù