Category: Faith

Washed in Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

The Baptism of the Lord
January 8, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010824.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus makes a remarkable debut! 

Picture the scene. It is a beautiful morning in the Judean Valley where the Jordan River runs fresh and sparkling. Most scholars place the Baptism of Jesus sometime in January, which means the weather would have been relatively cool. But perhaps, like our own weather, an unusually warm day may have snuck in.

Rustic, fiery preacher John is baptizing in the Jordan River. Crowds have come to hear what he has to say. Some are convinced and dive into the cool water under his hand. Others rim the hillside, not so sure John isn’t one of the many who have glorious visions but few facts.

Then, out from the pines on the far side of the river, comes Jesus, flanked by some of the Twelve. While his companions chat away to Jesus, his eyes are focused on John. In an instant, Jesus realizes that this is the moment for his revelation. In that same instant, all Creation realizes the same thing.

As Jesus walks slowly toward John, the birds and little animals speak to him, “My Lord and my God…”.  Wind whistling through the trees becomes an Oratorio praising him. All the surrounding colors deepen, breaking forth in unimaginable light.

John is stunned by the cosmic change he senses but cannot describe. Heart trembling, he looks into Jesus’s eyes and catches a glimpse of heaven. “I need to be baptized by you”, John says,”and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus smiles at his cousin, replying, 

“Let it be so now; 
it is proper for us to do this 
to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then John consented.

Perhaps those in the crowd, schooled in the ancient scriptures, heard Isaiah’s voice in the charged atmosphere:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Matthew tells us:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie
The Baptism Of Jesus is a painting by Jeff Haynie For purchase, see:https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie.html

Can you see him light-heartedly splashing John as he shakes his dark curls free of the chilly water? Can you see his transfigured face as he hears his Father speak Love over him?

At that moment heaven was opened, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, 
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

What a beautiful moment in time! Don’t we wish we might have been there in the blessed and awe-struck crowd? We can. Let your prayer of imagination take you there.

Video: The Baptism of Jesus

Find Your Star

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality4 Comments

The Epiphany of the Lord
January 7, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010724.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, and on this glorious feast, we pray with Psalm 72.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.

Psalm 72: 10-13

It is a gorgeous psalm that fills our senses with lights, and scents, and the tactile experience of an ancient and sacred world:

  • we inhale the flower of justice
  • wrap ourselves in its profound peace
  • gaze on a distant, moonless universe
  • stretch our prayer from sea to sea,
  • and our praise to the ends of the earth

We see the ancient nations gather in homage,
carrying the gems, spices and bounty of their homelands.

We, too, kneel in astounded wonder that this vulnerable child, 
hidden in the far reaches of both geography and imagination, 
carries to us the Promise of the Ages.

We, too, trust the star, rising in our own hearts.

Psalm 72 echoes our beautiful first reading from Isaiah, another masterpiece that, in itself, is enough simply to read and savor:

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  
Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.

Isaiah 60: 1-2

In Isaiah, these magnificent verses follow two chapters of gloom and darkness. They break forth in true epiphany to say, “Your Light has come!” – now your life must begin to shine as well.

Epiphany is not simply about kings and camels. It is not simply about a  crèche and a star. 

It is about Divine Revelation hovering over our dailyness. It is about us, opening our eyes in faith and responsiveness to our ever-present God.

The feast of Epiphany reminds us:

Look at your life today. 
The star did not pass you by. 
Open your eyes and find it. 
Once you have seen it, 
live in its Light.

Poetry: The Journey of the Magi – T.S. Eliot

Eliot wrote the poem after his conversion to Anglicanism ( He had been a Unitarian.) The poem conveys his struggle to grow in the light of his new faith. The “journey” is life-long and demanding in a world that often  contradicts that faith.

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Music: The People that Walk in Darkness – Bob Dufford, SJ

The people that walk in darkness 
 have seen, have seen a great light.
 And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
 a light has shone.
 
Refrain: 
For a Child is born this day: 
Rejoice, rejoice.
Daughter of Zion, awake. 
The glory of God is born.
 
And they shall name Him counselor, 
shall call Him mighty God.
And He shall rule from age to age: 
Prince of Peace.
 
Refrain
 
Darkness covers the earth; 
thick clouds govern its pe0ple.
But the Lord will bring them light; 
the Lord will bring them light.
 
Refrain
 
The people that walk in darkness 
have seen, have seen a great light.
And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
a light has shone.
 

Refrain

Family Trees

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

Christmas Weekday
January 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010624.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings are laced together with a genealogy theme.

In our first reading, John describes our most fundamental and powerful lineage: we are children of God with the gift of eternal life.

And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
Whoever possesses the Son has life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.
I write these things to you so that you may know
that you have eternal life,
you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5: 11-13

The Church offers alternative Gospels for reading today. One describes the Baptism of Jesus and one delineates his patriarchal lifeline.

Mark’s Gospel, which will most likely be read at Mass today, presents Jesus as the Son of God:

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Mark 1: 9-11

Today’s alternative Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the descendant of a long patriarchal line including Adam, David, and “as was thought” Joseph. It emphasizes Jesus’s place in the human family (In contrast to Matthew’s genealogy which emphasizes Jesus’s place in the Hebrew history.)

When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age.
He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,
the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi,
the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias,……

Luke 3:23-38

What are we supposed to learn today from this impressive array of scriptures? This is where my prayer took me:

Jesus Christ, human and divine, took flesh to share eternal life with me through Baptism. Through him, I gain the sacred pedigree that reaches through time to God’s eternal womb.

Poetry: Jesus’s Baptism – Malcolm Guite

Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Sprit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings
‘You are belovèd, you are my delight!’
In that quick light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise and live and love forever.

Music: Epiphany on the Jordan – Steve Bell and Malcolm Guite

Steve Bell worked with Malcolm Guite converting the poem above into this inspiring song. As we approach the Season of Light, revealed in Epiphany and Baptism, this meditative song is a great companion to our prayer.

The heavens split and the water spilled
And streamed around the man like a quickening rain
A quickening rain
The Word behind all worlds revealed
That God in man makes everything new again
New again
This word of God to his beloved
Has settled on me like a dove…
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise to life and love forever
And so graciously extends to me, a sinner
To tread the sacred waters of
The mystery of love
What can be said about a mystery
Except to say that the last word can never be said
Never said
Best leave that to poetry
Kindling words for quickening the dead
The living dead
Pure, single heart behind all things
Each to the other, by the spirit sing
He calls us too, to step into that river…

Back to the Fig Tree

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality10 Comments

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
January 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010524.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John gives us this powerful verse:

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God.

In our Gospel, we meet Nathaniel who has been sitting under a fig tree, perhaps examining his heart in the manner that John describes. I have frequently sat under the fig tree with Nathaniel because his was the name I was given over sixty years ago when I began my religious life.

I had never heard of him before that, nor at least had I paid attention to him. When Mother Bernard solemnly pronounced his name over me, it fell with a thud into my consciousness. Who was this guy anyway??? And what happened to “Regina”, “James Marita”, and “Eleanor Mary” – the names I had humbly requested! I imagine my eyebrows knit into a skeptical question mark!

I remember Mother Anthony peeking over Mother Bernard’s shoulder, encouraging me to smile as the superior’s hands rested on my head in blessing. Later she told me that she wasn’t so sure I would like the name, but that Mother Bernard really did. So I decided that I would learn to really like it too. That’s when I first met Nathaniel under the multi-trunked tree where he sat pondering his life.

Oddly enough at that first meeting, Nathaniel was young like I was then. He was trying to figure out, and plot out, his whole life in that one afternoon, much like I used to do when I was very young. I wanted to make the right decisions to set my life on a perfect course. So did Nathaniel I think.

Well. over the years since, both Nathaniel and I have met Jesus who has intervened in our self-interested ponderings. Jesus has called us beyond our mirror-bound reflections to the “greater things” of God’s vision for us and for Creation.

Nathaniel said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathaniel answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”

John 1:47-50

When I meet Nathaniel these days under the aging fig, we too have aged and mellowed. Asking God’s sustaining intervention for just the day or the hour has become sufficient. Now as the plump fruit falls occasionally from the limb, we listen more than we think or speak. Jesus has joined us there under the leaves’ broad shadows. We share the fruit that has been given to us. And yes, Jesus still knows us in ways that amaze, challenge, and comfort.

Poetry: Seeing for a Moment – Denise Levertov

I thought I was growing wings—
it was a cocoon.

I thought, now is the time to step
into the fire—
it was deep water.

Eschatology is a word I learned
as a child: the study of Last Things;

facing my mirror—no longer young,
the news—always of death,
the dogs—rising from sleep and clamoring and howling, howling,

nevertheless
I see for a moment
that’s not it: it is
the First Things.

Word after word
floats through the glass.
Toward me.

Music: Under the Fig Tree – Lake Isabel

Let No One Deceive You

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, justice, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
January 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010424.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John is gentle but scathingly direct in his teaching:

Children, let no one deceive you.
The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,
just as God is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,
because the Devil has sinned from the beginning.

1 John 3: 7-8

John tells us that good is good, and bad is bad. Don’t let anyone fool you. And don’t make excuses when you fool yourself!

John gives us a clear measuring stick to test alignment with his teaching:

In this way,
the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain;
no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God,
nor anyone who fails to love their sisters and brothers.

1 John 3:10

It’s so simple but so hard to be the kind of person John calls us to be!

In our deep hearts, we know what righteousness looks like. It looks like peace, forgiveness, reverence, truth-telling, kindness, service, faithfulness, hope.

And we know what unrighteousness looks like. It looks like war, vengeance, brutality, bigotry, manipulation, indifference, greed, selfishness, megalomania, dishonesty, fear-mongering.

How has our society gotten so mixed up that we allow unrighteousness to parade in the costume of justice! How have we gotten so lazy, greedy, or indifferent that we refuse to look for and remedy the root causes of our societal grievances? For example, when I dig deeper in my prayerful thinking, I might realize that:

  • Thousands of immigrants are not crossing their borders just to bother me or take my job! They are in fear for their lives and well-being because of a lopsided global economy and a classist devaluation of life.
  • The armament and weapons industries are not founded on a mission to protect me and my loved ones. Like all businesses, they operate to make money. The more guns they sell, and the more expensive and destructive they are, all the better. We are their marketplace not their protectorate.

The Scriptures are God’s living Word. They are not to be read and set aside as a completed devotional practice meaningless for today’s world.

They teach us about the past but they speak to us of the present. As we pray with them, we are called to be changed by them into persons who more clearly reflect Jesus and the Gospel. That is the hard work of righteousness – work that is the everyday stuff of our lives.

Deeply internalizing John’s teaching today is a good place to start our transforming prayer.

Poetry: And 2morrow – Tupac Shakur, (1971 – 1996), was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur’s music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities. His life was filled with violence and eventually, he was murdered, but his creative work revealed a deep though conflicted longing for justice and peace.

Today is filled with anger
fueled with hidden hate
scared of being outcast
afraid of common fate
Today is built on tragedies
which no one wants 2 face
nightmares 2 humanities
and morally disgraced
Tonight is filled with rage
violence in the air
children bred with ruthlessness
because no one at home cares
Tonight I lay my head down
but the pressure never stops
knawing at my sanity
content when I am dropped
But 2morrow I c change
a chance 2 build a new
Built on spirit intent of Heart
and ideals
based on truth
and tomorrow I wake with second wind
and strong because of pride
2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my
dream alive

Music: Beauty for Brokenness (God of the Poor) – Graham Kendrick

See!

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

Christmas Weekday
January 3, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010324.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we again have John the evangelist and John the Baptist as the “bookends” of our prayer. Each one calls his listeners to see the world differently – more deeply, under the surface – with the eyes of God.

See what love God has lavished upon us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

The spiritual vision the Evangelist describes comes through our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Through his life, death, and Resurrection, Jesus taught us how God loves and wants us to love. That is why a prayer life rooted in scripture, particularly the Gospel, is so critical to our spiritual integrity.

John the Baptist was steeped in this kind of integrity. Stripped of worldliness by ardent desert prayer, the Baptist was ready to not only hear the Word, but to see it when it came to him across the Jordan.

John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

John 1:32-34

Our readings today tell us that we too, through our Baptism into Christ, have been born to a new vision. Every day, this side of heaven, we are challenged to live within that vision – to see the world as God sees it, to live in the world as Jesus would live. The courage to do that comes from our hope which, with faith and love, purifies and fires our heart.

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

1 John 3:2-3

Poetry: Into the Eye of God – Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

For your prayer, your journey into God
May you be given a small storm,
A little hurricane named after you,
persistent enough to get your attention
violent enough to awaken you to new depths
strong enough to shake you to the roots
majestic enough to remind you of your origin:
Made of the earth yet steeped in eternity
Frail human dust yet soaked with infinity.
You begin your storm under the eye of God
A watchful caring eye gazes in your direction
as you wrestle with the life force within.
In the midst of these holy winds
In the midst of this divine wrestling
Your storm journey, like all hurricanes
Leads you in to the eye of God
Into the eye of God where all is calm and quiet
the stillness beyond imagining
Into the eye of God after the storm
Into the silent beautiful darkness
into the eye of God.

Music: Apple of My Eye – Sal Arico

… a cup of kindness yet …

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, spirituality9 Comments

New Year’s Eve
December 31, 2023

The motherhouse chapel is hushed in sacred quiet. We have spent these New Year’s Eve hours in prayer, thanksgiving, and hope. Now in midwinter’s purple shadows, a silent nun touches her single, small light to the majestic candelabras to prepare for this Mass which balances on the turning of the years. The tiny flames slowly saturate the darkness, transforming it to a warm, golden invitation.

Our Mercy family gathers from the places where they have been praying.  Each one carries a heart filled with the past year’s blessings and challenges and with the new year’s hopes.  

As each one enters the chapel, she places her thoughts in the ciborium of silence. She pours her needs into the chalice of trust.

Evening, through the stained-glass windows, breaks its dark rainbow across the sanctuary, wakening an expectant God to receive our promises. The schola rustles to life for the celebration.  With them, our spirits hum the treasured Christmas harmonies learned in distant novitiates. Some who will celebrate Jubilee this year gather at the back of chapel for the entrance procession, awed that the years have carried them to this moment. The stage is set for the great liturgy of renewal, for on this night each year, we pronounce again the vows that sculpt our lives.

This is a most-hallowed ritual for year after year in Mercy, even before we were born, we have been carried by the sacrament of one another’s fidelity.  As we light the slender tapers, we remember and are encouraged by our beloved sisters who now live the fulfillment of their vows in heaven.  

We give thanks for the new life of our candidates and novices whose eyes and hearts open in wonder at the incredible power of call and community. And we see the inexplicable beauty of one another whose lives, woven together in joys and sorrows through the years, have carried us to the merciful heart of God.

These are the grains of bread.  These are the drops of wine – these lives, taken and called by God, blessed and broken over the world, given again and again in mercy for the poor, sick and uneducated. This is the Eucharist of our vowed and covenanted lives.  This is the Body and Blood of Christ.

On this night, the spice of life steeps in a mulled wine where tart experience and sweet assurance marry in faith. On this night, we offer the past; we pledge the future, but we do so in this present moment which alone holds meaning. It is in this vowed moment – this pledged renewal – that the host is lifted and the cup sanctified. It is a moment repeated infinitely in the faithful living of our call. It is the moment of transformation.

Poetry:

Music: Auld Lang Syne – played by Kenny G

Praying with Anna

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Courage, Faith, Gospel, spirituality2 Comments

The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas
December 30, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/123023.cfm

rembrant anna
Presentation in the Temple – Rembrandt van Rijn

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we meet the venerable prophetess Anna. Oh, what she has to teach us!

  • Perseverance: she had waited eight decades for the revelation
  • Unconditional Faith: throughout those decades, she prayed always believing
  • Pure Spirit: she believed that, like the pure in spirit, she would see God
  • Unquestioning Receptivity to the Holy: when the Savior appeared, not in glory nor a fiery chariot, she received his vulnerability without hesitation
  • Adoration: “She never left the temple,but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.”
  • Sacred Satisfaction: “And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God” because her faith and hope had been affirmed.
psalm_light

There is so much in this reading for each one of us. Find yourself somewhere within it today as you pray. Perhaps:

  • Am I expecting God in every moment of my life?
  • If I have received the gift of “old age”, how has the long wait blessed and/or challenged me to keep hold of God’s hand?
  • If I am still “young”, how do I invite God into my unfolding journey?
  • Am I asking God to continually reveal Divinity in my daily life?
  • Am I purifying my heart of self-interest so that I can better perceive God’s Presence?
  • Can I welcome God no matter how the Divine Presence clothes itself?
  • Do I stay with my prayer, creating a deep temple in my spirit?
  • Can I find contentment and peace with how God chooses to be with me – even in suffering?

(In a second post, I will share a powerful reflective poem by Leddy Hammock & Sue Kelly – Prayer of Imagination for Anna, the Prophetess. I hope you love this piece as much as do.)

Music: While I Wait – Lincoln Brewster

Let Me Go Now

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, spiritualityLeave a comment

The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
December 29, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122923.cfm

Lk2_29 Nunc

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy,  our first reading offers us John’s perfect honesty and simplicity:

Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.

1 John 1:3-6

Yes, it’s that simple and that hard!

Then, in our Gospel, we meet Simeon who speaks with the holy confidence of a long and well-lived life. His lifelong dream was that he might not die before seeing the Messiah. That dream now fulfilled, Simeon intones one of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture, the Nunc Dimittis:

Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.

Luke 2:29-32

If we live in the Light, we too will see the Messiah within our life’s experiences. We too will come to our final days confident and blessed by that enduring recognition.

For as John also assures us:

Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother or sister is still in the darkness.
But whoever loves his brother and sister remains in the light …

1 John 1:9-10

Let’s pray today for those who are dying, that they may know this kind of peace.

Let us pray for ourselves, that when our time comes, we too may experience this confidence.

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 lifelong
Both he and I shall find divine completeness
                Of perfect song?

Music:  Nyne Otpushchayeshi ~Sergei Rachmaninoff (translated Nunc Dimittis, Now Let Your Servant Go). This was sung at Rachmaninoff’s funeral, at his prior request. (For musicians among you, point of interest: Nunc dimittis (Nyne otpushchayeshi), has gained notoriety for its ending in which the low basses must negotiate a descending scale that ends with a low B-flat (the third B-flat below middle C).

Church Slavonic text
Ныне отпущаеши раба Твоего,
Владыко, по глаголу Твоему, с миром;
яко видеста очи мои спасение Твое,
еже еси уготовал,
пред лицем всех людей,
свет во откровение языков
и славу людей Твоих Израиля

English translation
Now let Your servant depart in peace,
Lord, by Your word;
My eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared,
In view of all the people,
A light revealed to all tongues
and to the glory of Your people, Israel

John, the Lover

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

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist
December 27, 2023

Today’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122723.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we begin a three-week immersion in John’s magnificent first letter. At the same time, our Gospels will take us on a somewhat random journey with Jesus through his very early years.

Today’s Gospel, however, differs from the expected pattern and – yes, right here in the Christmas season – gives us an account of the Resurrection!

Early in the morning, on the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

John 20: 1-8

Did somebody get mixed up? Did someone think it was the Octave of Easter, not Christmas! No, of course not. I think the choice of this Gospel, at this point in the Liturgical Year, serves at least two purposes:

  • From the start of Christ’s life, it establishes how his days will end. Therefore, throughout the ensuing year, we are to read and interpret all of the Gospel in the glorious light of the Resurrection.
  • Placing this Gospel here, to accompany our first reading, clarifies exactly who John is — the one who indeed saw, heard, and touched the Word of God made visible in Jesus Christ and therefore is eminently qualified to testify to Christ.

Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—

1 John 1:1-2

One very popular form of both fiction and non-fiction is the love letter. Some of the most wonderful books are in the genre. Three of my favorites fit the category:

  • 84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
  • The Love Letters – Madeleine L’Engle
  • A Green Journey – John Hassler

Reading such literature evokes a reverence for the lives we touch in the gathered words. We read what is said and imagine what is unsaid. We witness the depth of another’s self-donation and we ponder our own capacity for such a gift.

In 1 John, we are granted the privilege of reading John’s love letters to his God and to his community. John’s love is profoundly deep yet simply expressed. We might tend to skip through his rich but clipped phrases. But to truly plumb them requires us to suspend time and rest with his words until they open in us like flowers in sunlight.

Poetry: The Living Word – Herman Hesse

The sun speaks to us through light.
Flowers give voice to fragrance and colour.
The air communes through clouds, snow, and rain.
From the sacred center of the world
streams forth an irrepressible desire
to overcome the silence between things.
Art, the ever flowing fountain, reveals
the secret of life through word and gesture, colour and sound.

The world wants to be known to spirit
and find expression for timeless wisdom.
All life longs for a language.
Deep intuitions wish to surface,
find words and numbers, lines and tones,
always evolving forms of understanding.

The red and blue of flowers
and the verses of the poet
point to the inner workings of creation,
always pregnant with beginning and never-ending.
When word and sound marry,
where songs soar and art unfolds
all life is brimmed again with spirit.
And every melody and book
and every painting is a revelation,
is another fresh attempt
to unfold the harmony of life.
Poetry and music invite you
to understand the splendors of creation.
A look into a mirror will confirm it.
What disturbs us often as disjointed
becomes clear and simple in a poem:
Flowers start laughing, the clouds release their rain,
the world regains its soul, and silence speaks.

Music: Love Letter – Anthony Nelson