Category: Faith

Remain

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

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
May 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050124.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
John 15: 1-4

What a tender and comforting passage! When we are invited to “remain” somewhere ( as in, “Please stay for dinner.”), it indicates that we have already arrived into that inviting presence.

Jesus tells us that we are already living in God’s Presence and that he wants us to always remain there in God’s Love. He tells us that we are established in that Presence – that we are already “pruned” for God.

We don’t realize how holy we are. I live with almost 100 spiritually noble women. I have the joy of knowing Mercy Associates, dear family, and personal friends who enrich my life by their desire to live in God’s Light! They would probably never describe themselves as “holy”.

But they are. They have spent their lives steeping themselves in the things of God, and God has delighted in them – invited them to “remain” in Love.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s take time to think about our holiness, not in pride but in humble thanks for the gift God has given us. Each of our lives has “pruned” us in a particular way to reflect God’s glory. Let’s remain – let’s linger – in that blessing as we pray today.

Poetry: To Live with the Spirit of God – Jessica Powers

To live with the Spirit of God is to be a listener.
It is to keep the vigil of mystery,
earthless and still.
One leans to catch the stirring of the Spirit,
strange as the wind’s will. 

The soul that walks where the wind of the Spirit blows
turns like a wandering weather vane toward love.
It may lament like Job or Jeremiah,
echo the wounded hart, the mateless dove.
It may rejoice in spaciousness of meadow
that emulates the freedom of the sky.
Always it walks in waylessness, unknowing;
it has cast down forever from its hand
the compass of the whither and the why. 

To live with the Spirit of God is to be a lover.
It is becoming love, and like to Him
toward Whom we strain with metaphors of creatures:
fire-sweep and water-rush and the wind’s whim.
The soul is all activity, all silence;
and though it surges Godward to its goal,
it holds, as moving earth holds sleeping noonday,
the peace that is the listening of the soul.

Music: Return to the Heart – David Lanz

May

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Faith, Mary, spirituality5 Comments

God’s blessings to all of you, my readers, in this beautiful month of May! These days bring the full blossoming of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the grape harvest in Australia, and the close of the rainy season in Peru. May all these gifts, and the special love of Mary, brighten these days.

Please enjoy this beautiful and elegant music, reminiscent of May:

Peace

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

Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter
April 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043024.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
~ John 14:27

Jesus did a lot to prepare his disciples for his suffering and death – sort of an “anticipatory grief” workshop! And the essential coping gift he gives them is peace. Not a peace that means free from trouble or conflict, but rather a peace like his own – one of being resolutely grounded in God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray to be so deeply rooted in God that we see all experience through the lens of God’s peaceful abiding in our hearts.

Poetry: Making Peace – Denise Levertov

A voice from the dark called out,
             ‘The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.’
                                   But peace, like a poem,
is not there ahead of itself,
can’t be imagined before it is made,
can’t be known except
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice,
syntax of mutual aid.
                                       A feeling towards it,
dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have
until we begin to utter its metaphors,
learning them as we speak.
                                              A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses . . .
                        A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light—facets
of the forming crystal.

Music: Inner Peace – Hennie Bekker

Advocate

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena,
Virgin and Doctor of the Church
April 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042924.cfm

Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our dwelling with them…

I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name —
will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.

Through the gift of Baptism, the power of the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts — a Waterfall of Grace to nourish us throughout our lives. This is the promise Jesus gives in today’s reading.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray to recognize and open ourselves fully to the Spirit Creator’s desire to be in our hearts.

Prayer: The Holy Spirit Prayer of Catherine of Siena

Holy Spirit, come into my heart;
draw it to You by Your power, O my God,
and grant me charity with devoted awe of You.
Preserve me, O beautiful love, from every evil thought;
warm me, inflame me with Your dear love,
and every pain will seem light to me.
My Father, my sweet Lord, help me in all my actions.
Jesus, love, Jesus, love. Amen.

Music: Ablaze – Ken Walther (Lyrics below)
Inspired by the wisdom of St. Catherine of Siena, Ben Walther composed an upbeat song to encourage today’s generation to set the world on fire with God’s love.

[Verse 1]
By His grace, we are conceived
To be mercy, to be peace
To be light amidst the darkness
In His image, we are made
To be brilliant, to be great
To present the world His likeness

[Chorus]
Let’s set the world on fire
Let’s raise His banner higher
Let’s set a broken world ablaze, oh
Let’s hear a generation
Proclaiming His salvation
With every breath and endless praise
And set the world ablaze

[Verse 2]
All aflame but not consumed
We are burning with the truth
For His presence makes us holy
Fanning flicker into flame
Till His love is what remains
For to Him belongs all glory

[Chorus]
Let’s set the world on fire
Let’s raise His banner higher
Let’s set a broken world ablaze, oh
Let’s hear a generation
Proclaiming His salvation
With every breath and endless praise
And set the world ablaze
Set the world ablaze
Set the world ablaze
Let’s set the world on fire
Let’s raise His banner higher
Let’s set a broken world ablaze, oh
Let’s hear a generation
Proclaiming His salvation
With every breath and endless praise
And set the world ablaze
Set the world ablaze

Deed

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

Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

1 John 3:18-22

John makes it so clear and simple, doesn’t he? It’s what we do that matters, not what we say. Jesus said the same thing once when he pointed out a tree to his disciples and said, “By their fruits, you will know them..”

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s take a good look at our lives, and the lives of those we allow to influence us. Are we like trees bearing good fruit – good deeds of charity, peace, forgiveness, mercy, honesty, respect, encouragement, hope, and fidelity?

If our deeds reflect the opposite of these virtues, John says they condemn us. He calls us to Gospel faithfulness in what we do as well as what we say.

Poetry:

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.

William Shakespeare

Music: Good Tree – Hillbilly Thomists (I thought these guys were fascinating! See more about them on their website: https://www.hillbillythomists.com/about)

You can’t gather grapes from a bramble bush
Or pick a fig from thorns
What I’d like to be
Oh, to be a good tree

Some fall in the rocks, on the beaten path
Some sink into great soil
From a tiny seed
Oh, to a good tree

Like a cedar high
And mustard wide
Where all the birds of the air can hide
Find rest inside

Oh, a good tree
The beetle bites
The black rot strikes
From the inside
Have your enemies

Oh, if you’re a good tree
High and dry
Some branches die
From time to time
A prune’s required
If you wanna be
Oh, a good tree

Even when I’m old
I still will be
Still full of sap, still green
That’s what I want to be
Oh, to be a good tree

By Your word
The dark is light
The tree of death becomes the tree of life
So let it be
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree

Show

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter
April 27, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042724.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to Jesus,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

Philip is like a lot of us. He is more comfortable with knowledge than with faith. He wants to be shown the Father, the way we might ask to be shown the facts, the details, the plan for something. But faith can’t be boiled down to facts and blueprints. Faith can’t be described or detailed in a presentation or an image.

Jesus challenges Philip to give himself fully to relationship with Jesus. In that shared love, wisdom, trust, and acceptance, Philip already knows the Father. Jesus is the human revelation of the Infinite Love, Wisdom, and Goodness of the Trinity.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray for the spiritual freedom to release our hearts from any doubt or reservation in our faith. We ask for the grace to trust the Presence of God in our lives and to respond in love to that ineffable Loving Presence.

Prayer: from Julian of Norwich

God, of thy goodness, give me Thyself;
for Thou art enough for me,
and I can ask for nothing less
that can be full honor to Thee.
And if I ask anything that is less,
ever Shall I be in want,
for only in Thee have I all.

Music: Expecting Miracles – Velma Frye and Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

Midnight moon, let your soft light fall gently,
Gently upon all that has grown dim in our lives.
Midnight moon, pour yourself into places
Where we are weary,
Midnight moon, refresh our bodies
And our hearts.
Let us watch throughout the long night as ones,
As ones expecting miracles.

Morning sun, let your soft light fall gently,
Gently upon all that has grown dim in our lives.
Morning sun, pour yourself into places
Where we are weary,
Morning sun, refresh our bodies and our hearts.
Let us step into this new day as ones,
As ones expecting miracles.

May we live this day
With the presence of disciples of joy!

Will

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, Faith, Love, Mary, Psalms, spirituality3 Comments

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
April 8, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040824.cfm

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.

Hebrews 10:5-7; cf: Psalm 40:7-9

On this Feast of the Annunciation, we remember Mary’s choice to love the world according to the manner of God. It was not a choice she made for the first time during the angel’s visit. Mary had always lived her young life patterned on grace and fidelity. Therefore, she was ready when the angel offered her the choice that changed the world.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

As human beings, we may be inclined to think of “God’s Will” as a pre-ordained pattern for our lives – rather like a document that, if we could get hold of it, we could follow exactly to achieve salvation. We may even mistakenly think that it is God’s Will that we, or our sisters and brothers, suffer.

We might ask ourselves instead, “What is God’s Will, really?”. The life of Christ, reflected in the Gospel, tells us this: God’s Will is Love. So when Psalm 40 interprets Mary’s Fiat as ” … behold, I come to do Your Will…”, what we might understand is this:

Your Will, O God, is Love.
I open my heart to be your Love in the world,
in whatever pattern your grace may come to me,
whether it be through the joys or the sorrows
of the human condition.

Poetry: Fiat – Robert Morneau

On her bed of doubt,
in wrinkled night garment,
she sat, glancing with fear
at a golden shaft of streaming light,
pondering perhaps, "Was this
but a sequel to a dream?"
The light too brief for disbelief,
yet its silence eased not her trembling.
Somehow she murmured a "yes"
and with that the light's love and life
pierced her heart
and lodged in her womb.
The room remained the same
- rug still need smoothing
- jug and paten awaiting using.
Now all was different
in a maiden's soft but firm fiat.

Music: O Santissima – interpreted by Andrea Montepaone

O sanctissima, o piissima,
dulcis Virgo Maria!
Mater amata, intemerata,
ora, ora pro nobis.

Tu solatium et refugium,
Virgo Mater Maria.
Quidquid optamus, per te speramus;
ora, ora pro nobis.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles;
salva nos, o Maria!
Tolle languores, sana dolores;
ora, ora pro nobis.

Virgo, respice, Mater, aspice;
audi nos, o Maria!
Tu medicinam portas divinam;
ora, ora pro nobis.		O most holy, o most loving,
sweet Virgin Mary!
Beloved Mother, undefiled,
pray, pray for us.

You are solace and refuge,
Virgin Mother Mary.
Whatever we wish, we hope it through you;
pray, pray for us.

Look, we are weak and deeply deplorable;
save us, o Mary!
Take away our lassitude, heal our pains;
pray, pray for us.

Virgin, look at us, Mother, care for us;
hear us, o Mary!
You bring divine medicine;
pray, pray for us.

One

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Eastertide, Faith, inclusivity, Jesus, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Second Sunday of Easter 
Sunday of Divine Mercy
April 7, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040724.cfm

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.

Acts 4: 32-33

In this passage from Acts, community is noted as an essential aspect of life in Christ. We were not created to be alone. We are created to find God in the love of our sisters and brothers. That merciful and generous love, imitative of Jesus, makes us one with Him in the Trinity, that primordial Community of Generative Love.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We pray to understand that our capacity for community deepens in relationship to our generous and merciful love for each person. As we widen our circle of mercy and caring mutuality, the face of God becomes clearer in our lives.

Poetry: When Someone Deeply Listens to You – John Fox

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you’ve had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.
When someone deeply listens to you
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind’s eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered.
When someone deeply listens to you
your barefeet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.

Music: In Christ There Is No East or West – Choir and Congregation, St. Martin in the Fields, London

Companions

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

Saturday in the Octave of Easter
April 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040624.cfm

Observing the boldness of Peter and John
and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,
and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.

Acts 4:11

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had driven seven demons.
She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Mark 16:9-11

Think of it! Jesus had companions – people he depended on and who depended on him. Like all companions, they had a common bond – their faith and mission.

It was this shared faith and mission that made them recognizable even when they were not standing side by side.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

How wonderful to be so invested in the faith and mission of the Gospel that we are recognizable as companions of Jesus!

Poetry: The Companion – John N. Morris

I shall begin
To appear too often.
You will not recall
When first you saw me.
I shall arrive
At the light beside you.
Catching a plane
You will observe me.
I will never speak.
I will never ignore you.
I shall open a door.
You will pass before me.
I will stand
In a line behind you. Whatever you do
I will be the same.
Nobody else
Will ever believe you.
Soon you will find
You are looking for me. 
The day will come, 
It is getting closer, 
When I shall stand
At every corner. 
Then you will know 
That you deserve me
And there will be
No more excuses.

Music: Companion – Tom Motterhead

Breakfast

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Eastertide, Faith, friendship, Jesus, peace, spirituality4 Comments

Friday in the Octave of Easter
April 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040524.cfm

When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.

John 21: 9-12

Table Stock photos by Vecteezy

Have you ever eaten breakfast on a quiet morning beach?

When each of my nieces and nephew was about three years old, I would take her or him to the beach with me in the early morning. It was like an initiation. We would sit quietly at water’s edge as I taught them to hum or sing a morning hymn. After a little while, my dear sister-in-law, their mother, would arrive with a full pot of coffee and two cups. The praying child would be released to play while Mare and I took up the morning silence, stringing it with occasional words.

It was a time of wonderful love and ease among us, a time of unforgettable blessing. This is the gift Jesus gives his disciples in today’s reading. He offers us the same blessing too, if we can find a little space for him in our morning. Just a minute or two will do. Remember, Jesus can do a lot with just a word — just think about those 153 fish!

Poetry: Jesus Makes Breakfast: A Poem about John 21:1-14
– by Carol Penner, Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario.

I could smell that charcoal fire a long way off
while we were still rowing far from shore.
As we got closer I could smell the fish cooking,
I imagined I could hear it sizzling.
When you’re hungry, your mind works that way.
When the man by the fire called out asking us about our catch,
we held up the empty nets.
And his advice to throw the nets in once more
is something we might have ignored,
except for the smell of cooking fish…
this guy must know something about catching fish!
The catch took our breath away;
never in my life have we pulled so many in one heave.
I was concentrating on the catch,
but John wasn’t even paying attention,
he was staring at the shore
as if his life depended on it.
Then he clutched my shoulder, crying,
“It is the Lord!”
Suddenly, everything came into focus,
the man, the catch, the voice,
and nothing could stop me,
I had to be with the Master.
There were no words at breakfast,
beyond, “Pass the fish,”
or “I’ll have a bit more bread.”
We sat there, eating our fill,
basking in the sunrise.
We didn’t have to say anything.
Jesus just smiled and served.

Music: Whispering Sea – Tony O’Connor