Category: Eternal Life

All

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

Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr
November 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111224.cfm

When you have done all you have been commanded, say,
‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.
Luke 17:10

Today’s Gospel tells us that we have to give God our “All” because God is the Source of that “All”.

Often, we hear about “giving our all” in relationship to the sports world – give it everything you’ve got, leave it all on the field, all or nothing, win or go home.

What if we had the same attitude toward our spiritual lives? Toward performing the Works of Mercy, living the Beatitudes, keeping the Greatest Commandment. What if we really gave God all!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We need plenty of practice to achieve the kind of dedication that gives “All”. Let’s begin or renew our will and effort right now through prayer, reflection, and living Mercy in our world.

Prayer: Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. 
I do not see the road ahead of me. 
I cannot know for certain where it will end. 
Nor do I really know myself, 
and the fact that I think that I am following your will 
does not mean that I am actually doing so. 
But I believe that the desire to please you 
does in fact please you. 
And I hope I have that desire 
in all that I am doing. 
I hope that I will never do anything 
apart from that desire. 
And I know that if I do this 
you will lead me by the right road, 
though I may know nothing about it. 
Therefore will I trust you always, 
though I may seem to be lost 
and in the shadow of death. 
I will not fear, 
for you are ever with me, 
and you will never leave me 
to face my perils alone.”

Music: I Surrender All – Judson W. Van DeVenter (1896)

A gentle interpretation of an traditional favorite.

Millstone

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

Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
November 11, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111124.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Luke 17:1-2

Jesus is serious about the importance of good example and moral living. I mean, look at the heft of that millstone! It ain’t no necklace! If you’re thrown into the sea with that around your neck, there’s no coming back.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for the spiritual sensitivity to be aware of our motivations, our influence on others, and any selfish or concupiscent choices we make.

Poetry: House of Light – Mary Oliver

Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled—
to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing—
that the light is everything—that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and falling. And I do.

Music: Be A Light – Thomas Rhett

Infinity

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, spirituality, suffering1 Comment

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
November 2, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110224.cfm

In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
    and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
    and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in God shall understand truth,
    and the faithful shall abide with God in love:
because grace and mercy are with God’s holy ones,
    whose care embraces the Elect.
Wisdom 3:7-9

All Souls Day is a glorious feast, and yet it is threaded with a tinge of sadness. We remember those we have loved and lost into the incomprehensible dimensions of eternity, into an infinty of Love.

The gifted Wisdom writer consoles us with the verse we are all so familiar with from many funerals:

The souls of the just
are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.

Wisdom 3:1

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We place our trust in God’s promise to hold our beloveds in tenderness until we see them again.

Poetry: from John O’Donohue

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or might or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.

The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
With wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was live, awake, complete.

We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul’s gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.

Music: Spirit Touch – Joseph Akins

White Robes

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Creation, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, spirituality1 Comment

Solemnity of All Saints
November 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110124.cfm

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.

https://fb.watch/vdYnVLVPXi/

In case you would like to hear the lyrics:

Wings

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
October 31, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103124.cfm

Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
but you were unwilling!
Behold, your house will be abandoned.
But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Luke 13:34-35

Scripture often uses the image of wings to convey the sense of divine protection as in Psalm 91:4:

You will cover me with your pinions
and hide me in the shadow of your wings.

In today’s reading, Jesus expresses his desire to love and protect us in this way. Yet some, by their life choices, remain unwilling.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We gratefully nestle in God’s grace and protection asking that our lives be transformed in that Holy Shadow.

Poem: Peace – Gerard Manley Hopkins

When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I'll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?

O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.

Music: Shadow of Your Wings – Amy Michelle

Gate

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

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
October 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103024.cfm

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them, 
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.’

Our own lives are the narrow gate through which we pass into eternal timelessness. In this passage, Jesus calls us to be strong, keeping our eyes fixed on what may seem distant, but is as close as our next choice.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray for the courage, strength, and insight to recognize God’s Presence so that God will fully recognize us.

Poem: The Narrow Way – Anne Brontë

Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth,
Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way,
And faint before the truth.

It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy;
But he who seeks that blest abode
Must all his powers employ.

Bright hopes and pure delights
Upon his course may beam,
And there, amid the sternest heights
The sweetest flowerets gleam.

On all her breezes borne,
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.

Arm—arm thee for the fight!
Cast useless loads away;
Watch through the darkest hours of night,
Toil through the hottest day.

Crush pride into the dust,
Or thou must needs be slack;
And trample down rebellious lust,
Or it will hold thee back.

Seek not thy honor here;
Waive pleasure and renown;
The world’s dread scoff undaunted bear,
And face its deadliest frown.

To labor and to love,
To pardon and endure,
To lift thy heart to God above,
And keep thy conscience pure;

Be this thy constant aim,
Thy hope, thy chief delight;
What matter who should whisper blame,
Or who should scorn or slight?

What matter, if thy God approve,
And if, within thy breast,
Thou feel the comfort of His love,
The earnest of His rest?

Music: The Narrow Gate

Seed

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Hope, spirituality2 Comments

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
October 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102924.cfm

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.

Music: Gardens in the Sun – Georgia Kelly

Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 26, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102624.cfm

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.

Music: This Ancient – Carolyn McDade

Surpasses

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102424.cfm

I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19

Paul blesses his beloved Ephesian community with these stirring words:

..May you know the love of Christ
that surpasses all knowledge…

Ephesians 3:19

We, and the Ephesians who receive this blessing, are reminded that we cannot comprehend or analyze God’s infinite love for us. Neither can we rationalize what that Love calls us to.

Today in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace of holy abandonment, letting ourselves rest in God’s Love without reserve, question, or calculation. May that same generous trust inspire our gift of Love to others in God’s name.

Thought: from Bishop Silvio José Báez, O.C.D.

We can abandon ourselves to God
and totally trust God
even without fully comprehending God’s ways;
it’s a source of inexhaustible joy.

Read Bishop Báez’s inspiring bio here:

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

Music: Attende Domine – Juliano Ravanello

Steward

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, justice, Seasons, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 23, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102324.cfm

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.