Category: Eternal Life

Remade

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

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
August 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080124.cfm

I went down to the potter’s house and there he was,
working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
remaking of the clay another object
of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:3-6

In the simple image of a potter with clay, we come to understand the transformative power of God’s grace. Like nourishment for a precious plant, that divine grace breathes new life into any fading flowers of faith, hope, and love. Jesus came among us so that we might be remade in his image as the Beloved of God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for a supple heart, an acute attention, and a patient openness to God’s power in our lives.

Poetry: The Song of the Potter – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Turn, turn, my wheel! Turn round and round,
Without a pause, without a sound:
So spins the flying world away!
This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,
Follows the motion of my hand;
For some must follow, and some command,
Though all are made of clay!
Turn, turn, my wheel! All things must change
To something new, to something strange;
Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
To-morrow be to-day.
Turn, turn, my wheel! All life is brief;
What now is bud will soon be leaf,
What now is leaf will soon decay;
The wind blows east, the wind blows west;
The blue eggs in the robin's nest
Will soon have wings and beak and breast,
And flutter and fly away.
Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar
A touch can make, a touch can mar;
And shall it to the Potter say,
What makest thou? Thou hast no hand?
As men who think to understand
A world by their Creator planned,
Who wiser is than they.
Turn, turn, my wheel! 'Tis nature's plan
The child should grow into the man,
The man grow wrinkled, old, and gray;
In youth the heart exults and sings,
The pulses leap, the feet have wings;
In age the cricket chirps, and brings
The harvest home of day.
Turn, turn, my wheel! The human race,
Of every tongue, of every place,
Caucasian, Coptic, or Malay,
All that inhabit this great earth,
Whatever be their rank or worth,
Are kindred and allied by birth,
And made of the same clay.
Turn, turn, my wheel! What is begun
At daybreak must at dark be done,
To-morrow will be another day;
To-morrow the hot furnace flame
Will search the heart and try the frame,
And stamp with honor or with shame
These vessels made of clay.
Stop, stop, my wheel! Too soon, too soon
The noon will be the afternoon,
Too soon to-day be yesterday;
Behind us in our path we cast
The broken potsherds of the past,
And all are ground to dust at last,
And trodden into clay.

Music: Abba, Father – Carey Landry

All

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

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
July 31, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073124.cfm

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Matthew 13:45-46

On this feast, our readings offer us a perfect understanding of what motivated the life of St. Ignatius Loyola – he gave everything to possess the pearl of eternal life.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray the Suscipe of Ignatius, asking to deepen in our understanding of how we are called to holiness in our particular life circumstances.

Poetry: As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Music: Take, Lord, Receive – John Foley, SJ

Take, Lord, receive all my liberty,
My memory, understanding, my entire will.

Give me only Your love and Your grace, that’s enough for me.
Your love and Your grace, are enough for me.

Take, Lord, receive all I have and possess.
You have given all to me, now I return it.

Give me only Your love and Your grace, that’s enough for me.
Your love and Your grace, are enough for me.

Take, Lord, receive, all is Yours now.
Dispose of it, wholly according to Your will

Give me only Your love and Your grace, that’s enough for me.
Your love and Your grace, are enough for me.

Seed

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

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073024.cfm

The seed is the word of God,
Christ is the sower;
all who come to him
will live for ever.

Encapsulating today’s Gospel, our Responsorial Psalm delivers the clear message that Christ sows the Word of God in our hearts. Will that Divine Seed be overwhelmed by selfish weeds? Or will it thrive? The answer comes with very high stakes – eternal life.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for a fertile soul, open to God’s Word, vibrant with the Gospel of Christ.

Poetry: May we raise children who love the unloved things – Nicolette Sowder

May we raise children
who love the unloved things – the dandelion, the
worms & spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn
& run into rainswept days
the same way they turn towards sun…
And when they’re grown &
someone has to speak for those
who have no voice
may they draw upon that
wilder bond, those days of
tending tender things
and be the ones.

Music: Gardens of the Sun – Georgia Kelly

Friends

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, friendship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
July 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072924.cfm

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
John 11:19-22

Jesus needed and had friends, just like we do. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were that kind of close friends. Jesus could hang out at their house, be comfortable at their table. They loved when he visited, bustling about to tidy the house and make him a special meal. They could sit with him for the afternoon in the comfortable silence between close friends. And could expect him to share their joys and sorrows.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus wants to be that kind of friend with us – sharing presence, refreshment, a quiet comfort, a lively conversation. He wants to share our ups and downs and in-betweens.He wants us to love him as he loves us.

Poetry: Malcolm Guite – The Anointing at Bethany

Come close with Mary, Martha, Lazarus
so close the candles stir with their soft breath
and kindle heart and soul to flame within us,
lit by these mysteries of life and death.
For beauty now begins the final movement
in quietness and intimate encounter.
The alabaster jar of precious ointment
is broken open for the world’s true Lover.
The whole room richly fills to feast the senses
with all the yearning such a fragrance brings.
The heart is mourning but the spirit dances,
here at the very center of all things,
here at the meeting place of love and loss,
we all foresee, and see beyond the cross.

Music: Pour My Love on You by Craig and Dean Phillips



Earthen

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Creation, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, spirituality4 Comments

Feast of Saint James, Apostle
July 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072524.cfm

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being given up to death
for the sake of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Today’s passage from Corinthians reminds us that any beauty and goodness in us is a gracious gift from God. That gift strengthens us beyond any human or personal capacity so that our lives may give God glory.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We prayerfully relax in the Potter’s hands Who shapes our lives according to Mercy. We realize with Paul that, even in affliction, we give glory to God by our fidelity and trust.

Poetry: Within this earthen vessel – Kabir, (1398–1518) a well-known Indian mystic poet and saint.

Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves,
and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans
and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;
And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth,
and the spring wells up.
Kabir says: “Listen to me, my Friend!
My beloved Lord is within.”

Music: Earthen Vessels – John Foley, SJ

Sought

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

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
July 22, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072224.cfm

The Bride says:
On my bed at night I sought him
whom my heart loves–
I sought him but I did not find him.
I will rise then and go about the city;
in the streets and crossings I will seek
Him whom my heart loves.
I sought him but I did not find him.
The watchmen came upon me,
as they made their rounds of the city:
Have you seen him whom my heart loves?
I had hardly left them
when I found him whom my heart loves.
Song of Songs 3:1-48

This exquisite poem from the Song of Songs captures the spirit of Mary Magdalen who, throughout her life, sought a deep and transformative relationship with God.

When she anointed his feet, when she relentlessly sought him at the tomb, Mary longed for the Presence of Jesus. When she found Him whom she had sought, this premier Apostle of the Resurrection preached the first Easter news to her companions.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We honor Mary Magdalen, so long mischaracterized in Church history. We ask to be inspired by her deep love of Jesus and resolute desire to be united with him.

Poetry: The Magdalen, a Garden, and This – Kathleen O’Toole

She who is known by myth and association
as sinful, penitent, voluptuous perhaps…
but faithful to the last and then beyond.

A disciple for sure, confused often with Mary,
sister of Lazarus, or the woman caught
in adultery, or she who angered the men

by anointing Jesus with expensive oils.
She was the one from whom he cast out seven
demons-she’s named in that account.

Strip all else away and we know only
that she was grateful, that she found her way
to the cross, and that she returned

to the tomb, to the garden nearby, and there,
weeping at her loss, was recognized,
became known in the tender invocation

of her name. Mary: breathed by one
whom she mistook for the gardener, he
who in an instant brought her back to herself-

gave her in two syllables a life beloved,
gave me the only sure thing I’ll believe
of heaven, that if it be, it will consist

in this: the one unmistakable
rendering of your name.

Music: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth – G. F. Handel

Shepherd

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 21, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072124.cfm

Today’s Alleluia Verse encapsulates the theme of all the readings:

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:27

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We LISTEN – one of the hardest things to do in life. Really listen – to what we hear with our ears, but more importantly, what we hear with our hearts. God is always speaking to us. May we listen.

Poetry: You, Neighbor God – Ranier Maria Rilkë

You, neighbor god, if sometimes in the night
I rouse you with loud knocking, I do so
only because I seldom hear you breathe
and know: you are alone.
And should you need a drink, no one is there
to reach it to you, groping in the dark.
Always I hearken. Give but a small sign.
I am quite near.

Between us there is but a narrow wall,
and by sheer chance; for it would take
merely a call from your lips or from mine
to break it down,
and that without a sound.

The wall is builded of your images.

They stand before you hiding you like names.
And when the light within me blazes high
that in my inmost soul I know you by,
the radiance is squandered on their frames.

And then my senses, which too soon grow lame,
exiled from you, must go their homeless ways.

Music: The Lonely Shepherd – Gheorghe Zamfir

Shadow

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 19, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071924.cfm

Isaiah answered King Hezekiah:
“This will be the sign for you from the LORD
that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun
on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz
go back the ten steps it has advanced.”
So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Isaiah 38:7-8

Walter Brueggemann, writing about this passage from Isaiah, entitles the chapter “Faithful King, Faithful God“. Hezekiah was a good king, observant of the David Covenant and of God’s commands. When Hezekiah lay in the shadow of death, that faithful relationship remained true.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We realize that life is a series of lights and shadows. And God is faithful in each circumstance. Catherine McAuley put it this way:

Let’s listen for God’s faithful presence in our lives, whether at this moment we are in light or shadow.

Poetry: Shadows by D.H. Lawrence

And if to-night my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new created.

And if, as weeks go round, in the dark of the moon
my spirit darkens and goes out, and soft strange gloom
pervades my movements and my thoughts and words
then shall I know that I am walking still
with God, we are close together now the moon’s in shadow.

And if, as autumn deepens and darkens
I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems that break in storms
and trouble and dissolution and distress
and then the softness of deep shadows folding, folding
around my soul and spirit, around my lips
so sweet, like a swoon, or more like the drowse of a low, sad song
singing darker than the nightingale, on, on to the solstice
and the silence of short days, the silence of the year, the shadow,
then I shall know that my life is moving still
with the dark earth, and drenched
with the deep oblivion of earth’s lapse and renewal.

And if, in the changing phases of man’s life
I fall in sickness and in misery
my wrists seem broken and my heart seems dead
and strength is gone, and my life
is only the leavings of a life:

and still, among it all, snatches of lovely oblivion, and snatches of renewal
odd, wintry flowers upon the withered stem, yet new, strange flowers
such as my life has not brought forth before, new blossoms of me,
then I must know that still
I am in the hands of the unknown God,
he is breaking me down to his own oblivion
to send me forth on a new morning, a new man.

Music: Only a Shadow – Carey Landry, sung by Sean DeBurca at the beautiful Galway Cathedral

I love the way Sean plays the piano in this video.

Mystery

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071424.cfm

In all wisdom and insight, God has made known to us
the mystery of the Divine Will in accord with the favor
set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of times,
to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.
Ephesians 1:9-10

In this tiny passage from Ephesians, Paul describes infinite realities – that our Creator has shared with us a Divine Mystery that we will never fully understand in this life. The Mystery has been embodied in the life and Person of Jesus Christ so that we may see and imitate what Divine Love looks like. That alignment with Love is the Will of our God for us.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask that our simple faith may open itself to the Mystery of God’s Love. God is not a problem to be solved. Nor are God’s ways fully comprehensible to us. But Jesus has lived Love in our midst so that we can see the only thing we need to understand.

Poetry: Love’s Choice – Malcolm Guite

This bread is light, dissolving, almost air,
A little visitation on my tongue,
A wafer-thin sensation, hardly there.
This taste of wine is brief in flavour, flung
A moment to the palate’s roof and fled,
Even its aftertaste a memory.
Yet this is how He comes. 
Through wine and bread
Love chooses to be emptied into me.
He does not come in unimagined light
Too bright to be denied, too absolute
For consciousness, too strong for sight,
Leaving the seer blind, the poet mute;
Chooses instead to seep into each sense,
To dye himself into experience.

Music: The Mystery – Michael Card and John Michael Talbot

Could you be findin’ the mystery
You have been lookin’ for
A kingdom where servants will come to be kings
Are you lookin’ for
And you’ll know
That the sweet paradoxes unfold
And the mystery will clearly show
And you’ll know
And you’ll know

Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)
Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)
Jesus, paint my life
(Could you be findin’ the mystery)

And we know You are the Master of painters
Comin’ the true Prince of Peace
And we know You are the Tue Creator
Comin’ the King of kings

Jesus, paint my life with charity
Paint my life with mercy
Paint my life

Can you be the light of the world
Can you be the light
Then take the light that’s given to you
Can you be the light

Can you give your love to the world
Can you give your love
Take the love that’s given to you
Can you give your love

Jesus, paint my life with charity
Paint my life with mercy
Paint my life
Paint my life

Seraphim

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, joy, Praise, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071324.cfm

I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.

They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
Isaiah 6:1-3

There are times in life when we are graced to see through appearances to find the Holy – maybe the gaze of a newborn, the kindness of a stranger, the moment someone dies, the deep aloneness of nature.

Isaiah experiences such a moment in this reading – and it was supercharged! The trappings of earth fell away as Isaiah stood praying in the Temple. He saw the Seraphim singing praise to the Holiest of Beings. In that astounding light, Isaiah found a new self, one drenched in the Divine Presence and Will. It was in this moment that Isaiah truly became a prophet!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask that our hearts be opened to the very real Presence of God in our ordinary lives. Let us trust that angels accompany us even though we do not see them. Let us listen to their song in those rare moments when we can almost touch the Holy under the surface of our lives.

Poem: I Saw the Seraphim – Robert Wagner

I saw the Seraphim one summer’s night
Reaping it seemed a field of endless wheat.
I heard their voices through the fading light
Wild, strange and yet intolerably sweet.
The hour such beauty first was born on earth
A dawn of sifting had that day begun
For some would not endure love’s second birth
Preferring their own darkness to that sun.
And still love’s sun must rise upon our night
For nothing can be hidden from its heat
And in that summer evening’s fading light
I saw his angels gather in the wheat.
Like beaten gold their beauty smote the air
And tongues of flame were streaming in their hair.

Music: I Saw the Seraphim – the poem set to music by JAC Reford